


To move north

by Rogercat



Series: Modern AU; Himring National Park [1]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Allergies, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Not Related, Canon Characters - Freeform, Canon Het Relationship, Cousins, Developing Friendships, Eating Disorders, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Food Issues, Foster Care, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Hunters & Hunting, Illegitimacy, Moving, Nature, Nature Versus Nurture, New Family, Other, Past Lives, Secrets, Shamans, Siblings, Social Anxiety, Social Issues, Teenagers, Unknown Family, Wilderness, Wilderness Survival, loss of family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2020-02-09 08:11:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 73,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18634237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: Celegorm finds himself in the role as a foster father to a young teenager named Dior, and from there he carefully guides the youth into the world





	1. A call to change things

**Author's Note:**

> Modern AU story. Finwe and Indis are not married here, but their sons view each others as brothers and theur families helps out if there is a need for it

Celegorm was normally not hunting in spring because of that the animals had started to get their new offspring, but there was a wild and slightly mad old boar that had caused a lot of trouble for the highway by attempting to slam into the passing cars as attack. No one knew why the boar acted like that, but Celegorm guessed that the boar simply was so old that it had started to become senile.  

 

“That old fellow should have been shot years ago, he was a clever one in his younger days….”

 

There! The old boar had came to the waterhole which was created in the middle of the stream, since all animals needed to drink eventually. Already having his rifle ready and a good aim, Celegorm managed to shoot the boar. Behind him, Huan came out of the bushes with a dead hare in the mouth. 

 

“Thank you for not being around and instead hunting for yourself further away into the valley, Huan, it would have been a pain if you had gotten attacked.”

 

Taking out a hunting knife, Celegorm hurried to remove the organs and then put the carcass into the stream to cool it off. That way the blood was removed so the bakterica was killed as well and the meat would taste much better later.

 

Normally Celegorm hunted with bow and arrows, just like his ancestors in old times, but he always had a rifle along just in case, you never knew if it could be needed in self-defense against a wild animal or a something else. 

  
  
  


As Celegorm drove back to Formenos, he used a in-ear headphone on his mobile to call his family about that he was soon home. He never used the mobile for texting or normal phone calls while driving, there was enough traffic accidents caused by idiots who tried to drive their cars with only one hand while talking in the mobile and ended up getting killed for it when they lost control, and then crashed into either another car or a tree. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

When Celegorm arrived to the the large family villa owned by his family in the outside of Formenos, he drove over to his own part of the surrounding area. The villa in itself was a massive house with enough room for all the family members and a big number of guests, but Fëanor had offered to build separate cottages on the house grounds if his sons now wanted to move out of the villa but still be close to their parents if there was a emergency of any kind. 

 

“ _ You are welcome to dine with us this evening if you want, Tyelko. Is half a hour enough for you to put the fresh meat into the cold storage and take a shower? _ ” 

 

“More than enough, mom. Is there a nice treat for Huan as well?” 

 

“We accidentally brought a little too much beef from the butcher yesterday, he needed to get rid of a unsold order before it got bad and we thought that Huan could have a taste of what we will eat today, minus the vegetables, spices and gravy, of course.” 

 

Celegorm grinned, Nerdanel would sometimes joke like that. 

  
  


The family dinner was nice enough, even if not all his brothers was home. Some of them was still at work or rather ate in their own cottages. 

 

“Did you manage to deal with that boar?” Fëanor asked his third son, once he and Nerdanel had told about their day. 

 

“Yes, Oromë had originally planned to shoot that old trouble-maker, but he got prevented in the form of Vana having a really big misfortune on that travel home from the dance show in the other end of Valinor she had been taking part in. First her flight home was canceled, and then she could only get about half-way by train before a random cyclist crashed into her from a strongly sloping hill and broke her leg.”

 

Both Fëanor and Nerdanel made a compassionate grimace at those words. Celegorm got along very well with his teacher in hunting and Oromë's wife Vana liked him as well. The sight of the tall, bear-like hunter and his petite ballet dancer to wife was a well-known sight at times in Formenos, especially during the autumn when it was hunting season. 

 

“So Oromë chose to get his little ballet dancer home by car so he knew where she is?”

 

“Pretty much. Hard to blame Vana for being so upset when she called her husband on the phone and her crying was loud enough for me to hear it too, though, she had planned a summer course in dance for kids in school age over the summer holiday and having a broken leg makes that rather difficult.” 

  
  


Afterwards, they watched the news on the television. Today there seemed to be something celebrity-related:

 

“ _....in the moment of speaking, everything suggests a suicide by overdose on sleeping pills… _ ” 

 

“Hm. People does not think much of the darker sides of being a celebrity. I am glad that none of you seven ever chose that career,” Nerdanel spoke with a small frown, recalling how Maedhros had been sought out by a model company for his stunning looks and tall height back as a teenager. But his parents had refused it to happen, not wanting their eldest son to be chased by crazy fans who wanted to get into his bed and all that other unpleasant things celebrities had to live with. 

 

“Formenos are enough big for us to not needing to leave to find work. Besides, we know people around and Tirion is...well, not in our taste,” Celegorm said. Fëanor nodded in agreement, he and Nerdanel had been born and grown up in Tirion, the largest city in Valinor with a Noldorin population but both had hated city life, instead longing for a more quiet life in a smaller town. When Nerdanel's family had moved to Formenos in the hope of that her father Mahtan's skills as a blacksmith would be better received in a city that was not so super-modern, Fëanor had hurried to pack whatever he had wanted to bring along and follow after them all by his own, not wanting to end his apprenticeship with Mahtan simply because of that move. 

 

“That reminds me. Any news from Fingolfin or Finarfin laterly?”

 

Fingolfin and Finarfin was the sons of Indis, a female friend of Fëanor's widowed father Finwë. There had once been talk of romance between them, both having lost a spouse to death caused by some incurable illness, but they had merely remained friends and instead encouraged their sons to be friends too. 

 

“Only that Finarfin second son Orodreth will move with his family to Formenos this summer. He liked to work at the local hospital here and he also want his daughter Finduilas to be free from the unwanted attention of some badly infamous youth that have his eyes on her.” 

 

Celegorm made a face.

“That kind of “bad boy” who believes that he is a ladykiller to make girls fall for his charms or just a plain stalker?” 

 

“Later one,” Fëanor confirmed with a look of disgust. Even if Orodreth was no relative by blood, he had realized the need to get Finduilas away from that creep and why not mention that there was a need of a new doctor who was specialist in allergies at the local hospital in Formenos, with a large apartment as part of the employment?

 

Suddenly, the laptop was making a ringtone as a signal that there was someone on the videophone.   

 

“That signal is Fingolfin, right? Why does he call this late in the evening?”

 

Based on that Fingolfin still wore his police uniform when Fëanor opened the videophone so the screen was acting like a camera, he must have arrived home from work not long ago. 

 

“Hello, Fingolfin, everything alright?”

 

“Oh, cut the greetings and answer a few question I need you to answer, Fëanor. Your family are still part of the foster family system despite the one-year break last year, right?”

 

Now this was not really what they had expected.

 

“Yes, we planned to send out a message to the the local authorities that our house is open to a new foster child again this summer, tomorrow. Is there a child in need of a foster family, related to a case for you?” 

 

“Did you see the evening news? That dead celebrity is Luthien Tinuviel, who had a short career as a teenage idol singer about twenty years ago. That career was cut short seventeen years ago, when a secret boyfriend of hers was killed with a gun by a fanatic fan who did not want to view her as a living person, only a saint of songs and music…”

 

Celegorm got a nervous feeling about how Fingolfin talked.

 

“Please do not tell me that she actually was pregnant at that time and have managed to hide a child from the media attention all those years?” the silver-blond hunter asked, to which his uncle in all but blood signed as response. 

 

“Sadly true. The boy, named Dior Eluchil after his maternal grandfather Thingol's birth name, have lived his sixteen years of life in isolation at one of the summer houses owned by the grandparents, home-schooled and rarely meeting those of his own age. Unfortunately, it is bad with his family situation, his grandfather died unexpectedly in a heart attack two years ago at a conference with the management of the company he owned and the boy's grandmother is in a nursing home since last autumn from a horrible stroke. Apart from some distant relatives he barely have met at all, Dior have no one who can take care of him and help him adjust to the real world.”

 

Fëanor realized why Fingolfin had called his family about this case. Formenos was less modern than her sister-cities because it was so far north, a good distance from any media that could try and find out about the son Luthien had hidden from the world. The woods close to Formenos could perhaps help the orphaned teenager to find peace in nature as well.

 

“Anything special we need to know about him? Allergies, some illnesses he might need medicine for?” 

 

“The hospital at my place is working on finding that out. I will give more details tomorrow whe I know more. Thanks a lot for the help.” 

 

At hearing the calling voice of his own wife Anarië in the background, Fingolfin closed off the videophone. 

 

“Well, seems like we might get a new foster son again. Celegorm, can you help me call your brothers and request a family meeting here tomorrow evening? If Dior is going to live with us, we must ensure that everyone know,” Nerdanel requested, as she went to find her own mobile. Celegorm was already about to call Maedhros, understanding the need of a family meeting. 

 


	2. Planning ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first contact

Even if they had never suffered from “empty nest”-syndrome after that their seven sons had moved out from the villa to start their own lives, Fëanor and Nerdanel had chosen to become foster parents in the hope of offering a safe family feeling and welcoming home, if only for a few months, for children and teenagers in need of it.   

 

“Do you think we should repaint the guest room meant for the foster children? A new paint or wallpaper might be needed after the last girl who trashed it in a fit of anger during her stay here.”

 

That girl had not been happy with being a foster child at all, with a history of getting into drugs due to the criminal family she originally had been born into and skip school to be with a gang of youngsters who was trouble-makers. Despite their efforts to make her see the errors of the path she went, she had kept being troublesome and, after running away from Formenos all together, ended up in juvenile prison after being caught in the middle of a exchange of drugs in another city and would not be freed until another four years had passed. That failure had been the reason to why they had taken a break for a year in a attempt to regain their confidence as foster parents. 

 

“Yes, maybe a pleasant green colour to bring out the feeling of the woods around Formenos?” 

 

Calling their twin sons on the mobile, Nerdanel tasked Amrod and Amras to find some nice paint to colour the guest room with, in the local shop selling paints and wallpapers for houses. 

 

“I hope that Dior have not suffered from total social isolation, knowing only his direct family members and a few servants in the house where he grew up. I checked up the company owned by his grandfather, Thingol would sometimes invite important members of the staff but they rarely saw the boy and almost never other children invited to be with him, it seems,” Fëanor said with a frown. Children and teenagers suffering from social anxiety was often difficult for the foster care system, not because they meant it, but because of that they would often need medicine and meeting with therapists in a attempt to help them try to lose those fears. 

 

“Hiding him from the vultures in media is understandable, given that she was a former celebrity for a while, but homeschooling her son with private tutors? That is a worrying sign, I fear, for it does not allow the learning of necessary social skills needed for a good life,” Nerdanel muttered. She had never liked the idea of a child having school lessons at home, unless it might be for helping the child a little extra before a important school test, her own sons had never been afraid of asking for a little help if there was something they needed to be better explained on a school subject. And the schools here in Formenos was very careful with their teachers, people who acted unprofessional against the students and allowed bullying in front of their very eyes could in general find themselves fired on the spot if the principal heard about it, for “encouraging negative behavior in class and possibly future harm in the students”. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Back in the city of Barad Eithel, Fingolfin was sitting in his office on the police station, awaiting a result from the hospital. As one of the officers dealing with the suicide of Lúthien Tinúviel and what to do with her teenage son. 

 

“Not good that he have next to no relatives to take him in….a younger brother to his grandfather and that man's descendants, but they are all spread out over Valinor…”

 

The fax machine to his left started to pin out papers, coming from the hospital where Dior would have undergone a long health examination and other things needed in such a situation. Fingolfin had seen on the teenager's face that something had not been really normal; a blank look, even when there had been signs of dried tears. And there were a thinness in the face which was not exactly normal, even for a teenager who was very slender and most likely a late bloomer when it came to puberty, given how long and thin Dior hinted to be in body despite already being sixteen years old. In fact when looking at that androgynous face and not knowing his actual gender, it was very easy to mistake Dior for a girl the first time he was seen by someone. 

“What have they found….” 

 

When looking at the papers, he saw that it was not exactly what he had feared, but there was a big risk of that it could become much worse. Fëanor and Nerdanel would have their hands full with this new foster son, no doubt. Not because Dior would be a troublemaker like their last foster daughter, but rather related to his health: 

 

According to what Dior had confessed with great hesitation to the unknown doctors, it seemed like that his mother had been very controlling about his eating habits, having raised him on a almost full vegan diet with very little real dairy products and almost no meat at all, outside the rare dishes with fish she had allowed. 

 

As a result, Dior was actually malnourished, weighing roughly ten kilos less than what he should, suffering from anemia and showing signs of that he might have osteopenia, and he had been noticed to wrap himself up in several layers of clothing to stay warm, wearing even thin knitted gloves and a thicker set of socks indoors, far more than what was needed in summer time with its warmth and sunny weather.

 

“I better tell them that he is going to need warm clothes at least, to avoid that he starts freezing even in a gentle summer wind. And I bet that the doctors are going to order dairy products and meat to be added into his diet just to become healthy.” 

 

Fingolfin knew that he would call Fëanor again this evening, and why not drive past the group home where Dior and other young teenagers lived during the wait to be sent to a foster family? Surely there could be no harm in helping with a first contact?

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Back in Formenos, the large family of twelve persons, counting in the eighteen-year-old Celebrimbor with his mother Astarë and Maglor's wife Rainiel, had just finished the family meeting. 

 

“So even if we might not end up being chosen as the foster family, we thought that it would be good to tell you boys about this case,” Nerdanel spoke, none of her seven sons protesting that she still called them boys out of habit despite being grown up adults now. It was only a sign of her motherly love, not to make them feel embarrassed.

 

“I took a chance and looked up the background of Luthien again when you mentioned which possible foster child that we will take in. Her already deceased father Thingol was the owner of Doriath Beauty, a modeling company which also sells beauty products. While I have not found any information about Dior, it could simply be that just as you already guessed, she must have wanted to keep him away from the media vultures which haunts every kind of famous celebrities. It could also be that due to still being underage with both his mother and grandfather gone, and with his grandmother in that nursing home, Dior would not be legally allowed to inherit the company before he is a legal adult at 18 in two years.” 

 

Being a music teacher at the local high school, Maglor sometimes used his connections in the school community to find information about future students that arrived to Formenos, mainly because Formenos did not want to be involved in a secret network of drugs or be viewed as a place where criminals could escape the law. Sure, other people may view those rules as unnecessary strict for a minor city which was in the north of Valinor, but things had not been idyllic in the past just because Formenos was a “small city in the middle of nowhere”; naive newcomers who had grown up with zoos as the closest thing to wild nature and idiotic tourists who failed to realize that true nature was not civilized, that the forest animals actually was really wild and that yes, they could kill a person, often ended up learning that lesson the hard way. 

 

“We do not know for how long Dior will stay with us, but try and have a place free among the freshmans for him if it so becomes that he will be here for longer than the summer holidays. It would not help his home-schooled background or attempts to make friends if he have to take the train to and from another city everyday just to attend school there,” Maedhros suggested from his place at the table, to which Maglor agreed and quickly made a reservation note about one place at the school.  

 

The laptop belonging to Fëanor made the ring signal of Fingolfin again, and he opened the videophone:

 

This time Fingolfin was dressed in his normal clothes, but the background was a unfamiliar one. 

 

“Hello everyone. I thought that I could try and help out a little bit with the first contact since I am currently at the group home where Dior is staying for now.”

 

There was a movement beside him, as if another person moved slightly on the couch. 

 

“Dior, are you going to show yourself?” Fingolfin asked, turning his head slightly to look at the teenager. 

 

“I was always told by my mother to not show myself on social media, and we had no internet in the house where I lived before. She used to say that there is people with less than honest intentions out there in the wider world that could be after me for my appearance.” 

 

Being a mother of seven sons herself, Nerdanel immediately spotted that there was something off with the manner Dior had mentioned Luthien, even from just hearing his voice. Mother was, in those days, normally only used in a more formal speech or when a child was not feeling close to the female parent for some reason. Of course, it could be that he was still grieving over death and felt unsure among strangers, but she still made a quick side-glare to her husband, his own eyes showing that he had wondered the same.

 

“Both Fingolfin and I uses private laptops, and we would never post a video or anything on social media without the consent of everyone in it. Just a quick look, so we know which person to look for at the train station if you comes to us. Would that be alright?” Fëanor suggested in the gentle voice he always used to try and make his own sons feel secure when they still had been young children. It seemed to help, for Fingolfin removed himself from the screen and was replaced by a person dressed in a common light grey hooded sweatshirt. A pair of hands, hidden in thin knitted gloves as if trying to stay warm, was raised to the hood and removed it.  

 

It was not the androgynous face which was a surprise, or that Dior's dark brown hair was long enough to make him seem feminine. But rather that he had not been joking about his looks: if the media ever saw a image of him and realized that he had inherited Luthien's face to near perfection, he would be a target for model companies which would view him as a ideal model and wantíng to get their hands on him, whatever he wanted it or not. 

 

Clearly Dior did not like to show himself to people for long, because he quickly pulled back the hood over his head and removed himself from the screen, Fingolfin taking his place back. 

 

“Anairë will fax over the papers from the hospital about his medical examination. Personally, I think you will be the best family to care for him, as you will find out in the results.”

 

Hearing the fax machine in the office, Fëanor went to go the papers, leaving his wife and sons to keep the talk going. 

 

“Dior, is there anything you can tell us about yourself? Your favorite food, perhaps? Are you unsure around dogs? That question is important, for I have a hunting dog,” Celegorm asked, a bark from Huan at his side. 

 

Some silence, before Dior spoke in almost a whisper:

 

“My grandfather had guard dogs around the summer house where I was raised to ensure that no strangers sneaked around, so I am not a stranger to dogs, but I never played with them before. And….I would prefer not to be given much vegetables, my mother was very strict about my food and if I have to eat salads and vegetable soups or vegetable stews, or anything of those “healthy vegan foods” again for every meal of the day all week, I will likely reach my limit of what I can stand of it.” 

 

Celegorm had to bit the inside of his cheek to not say something in shock. Really, had Luthien been one of those health fanatics who viewed meat-eating as a sign of animal cruelty? Had she not been able to realize that a vegan diet was harmful for growing children as they did not get the proper nutrition needed?

 

“You will not have to worry about about a vegan diet here in Formenos. That kind of healthstyle is not one fitting for people who lives here, we would starve through the winters if there was no meat served here and most of us have a very active lifestyle as well.” 

 

There was a sigh of relief, before Fingolfin said:

 

“If everything goes as planned, we will send Dior by train to Formenos to be in your care in a week or so. There is a few last-minute details that needs to be fixed first. I will call during the weekend to tell how it goes. See you all.” 

 

Once the screen was black as a sign of the videophone being finished, did Fëanor show up with the papers, a slight frown of worry on his face. 

 

“We need to remove one food item from our collection of recipes, and clean out all our houses and cars to be on the safe side. Dior have proven positive for  **_peanut allergy_ ** when they tested for possible allergies, and we all know how deadly a such allergy can become if there is a really bad reaction.” 

 

“Then we will do that during the big spring cleaning of the cars tomorrow,” Caranthir commented, already on the way to the kitchen to see if there was any packets with peanuts hidden in the kitchen cupboards. The other brothers muttered in agreement, almost all of them had a car in order to be able to travel past the city borders of Formenos. The train station was useful for long distance-travel, yes, but for travels to the national parks and away to the closest cities, strong cars with large wheels was needed, preferably jeeps which could stand the wild terrain in the woods. 

 

“Well, there we know what to do under this week.”

 

Standing up when Celegorm did, Huan followed after his owner to their own cottage, to clean out if Dior even would come over there.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Osteopenia is a condition in which bone mineral density is lower than normal.
> 
> Huan is meant to be a Irish wolfhound.
> 
> In this story Formenos is meant to be the most northern city in Valinor, a good way up in the north far from the other, much bigger cities (think something like Alaska but less cold), and as such people in the south tends to have a slightly romanized idea about Formenos and the wildness, which can become pretty the culture crash with the wild animals


	3. Travel and hospital visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something unplanned happens for Dior on the journey to Formenos

Having lived in the south of Valinor his whole life, Dior knew that he would likely face a very different climate up north, where Formenos was. While still being rather awkward around the other teengers in the group home, hinting to that his social skills was not the best, the sixteen-year-old still tried to get his hands on information about the city. As he was not really sure on using computers or using Skooge for information, he instead used what had been available without internet: booklets, map books and newspapers. The kind of research used long before the modern age.      

 

“It lays at the southern border of Himring national park, with a maximum of 1000 people being resident there all year round, and the numbers getting higher during the tourist season…”

 

With only 1000 people, Formenos might be called a town or even a large village instead, according to those who lived in the far larger, modern cities, but the booklets told Dior that people in Formenos had always called their home for a city, especially as it had been the largest settlement in northern Valinor for hundreds of years.

 

“It is said that Russandol, the author of the popular “Hunter” series is living there, because the details of the hunting methods and everything about the national park is so exact. There is even people guessing that he must be basing the “Hunter” character on a real person he knows personally, and the same with the dog used by the main character!” one of the other teenage boys said when he saw what Dior was searching about.

 

“Hunter series?”

 

Again Dior felt the shame of how isolated his upbringing had been, for he was not very familiar with what was popular among those in his own age. Fashion he could guess rather well, thanks to Luthien sometimes bringing home chosen sketches of what Doriath Beauty would have their teenage models wear at fashion shows, but music and literature was sadly not part of it.

 

“Yes, it is a serie of books which you can read regardless of having read the first books, for the main plot is of a hunter spending his days in the national park and bringing animals in need of help to the local wildlife aid center. And of course, dealing with tourists and other people who seems to think that a national park is similar to a zoo and that the wild animals can be petted without danger like domestic animals.”

 

Dior, who had watched the Animal Planet channel as one of the few allowed tv channels for him to watch as part of his education, knew better than thinking that wild animals was harmless.

 

“Let me guess, a lot of it involves baby animals and very protective mothers who think their offspring is attacked, right?”

 

Nods in agreement, showing that he was not wrong.

 

“Those books have actually been listed as the best “learning about wild nature” books for us young people for almost five years now. They are found in every bookstore, so you should be able to find them in Formenos as well.”

 

Dior added the name of the book series to a small list he was writing up, hoping to use it in order to catch up with his peers and blend in among them better once he arrived to Formenos, especially now when he was not hidden away from his family anymore. He needed to avoid standing out in the crowd, his face he couldn't do much about but a planned haircut and a change of clothes could maybe help.

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

In Formenos, Celegorm and his brothers had now managed to clean out all the peanuts in their homes, while the parents got some extra help in searching though the villa by their two daughters-in-law.

 

“There, last one. Now we only need to air out properly, and Dior should be able to visit us without getting sick,” Amrod said as he threw out the last small packet of peanuts he had found somewhere up on the attic of all places. It was not a big pile they had created on the lawn, but there had been a few.

 

Some of the peanuts had long passed their due date, so they would end up in the  forest compost a good distance away from the houses, mainly to not draw any wild animals to show up there.

 

“Very good, there is a lot to think about when a food allergy is involved and acute hospital visits to avoid death for that reason are never fun,” Nerdanel spoke as she came out through the back door to see if they had finished the search for peanuts. All the cars owned by the family had been carefully cleaned out and washed yesterday, taking a chance to use the sunny weather, so that was not something needed to do now after that the houses had been searched out.

 

The seven brothers knew that one of their mother's maternal cousins had died from a massive allergy reaction on shellfish as a child, but that allergy was thankfully not common in Mahtan's family and Fëanor even had requested a check on possible allergies in his side of the family three, which had been next to non-existing.

 

“Well, I do not think there is much more to clean, now with both the cars and our homes finished.”

  


As Dior had not wanted anything of a vegan diet again after growing up with one, they looked through their family recipes to find something easy for him to adjust easier to have meat and dairy products in his food now.

 

“I think a plain, curry-flavoured chicken stew with rice should be good enough for his welcoming meal. We do not know how unused he is when it comes to eating meat and dairy products, so we better take it carefully with his share of the meals until that we knows how much he can eat without his body protesting later.”

 

Hopefully they would not need to give Dior any of those vitamin pills, unless a doctor confirmed that he would need it, for their meals was well-balanced and almost all food here in Formenos was grown locally, with the meat and most root vegetables coming from the farms around, only just a few fruit and vegetable varieties were imported from the south.

 

Fëanor, who had just spoken with the staff at the group home on the telephone fixed to the wall in the kitchen, came back out in the dining room.  

 

“Dior will travel to Formenos in two days. He will arrive in the evening, by taking the long-distance express train from Barad Eithel, the one which will take ten hours of travel by making a one-hour long stop both in Tol Sirion during midday and later in Nargothrond during early evening. I have given the staff our different cell phone numbers, to be written up if Dior needs to call us by using the payphone on Nargothrond's Central train station, he have never owned a cell phone of his own and likely would feel lost in how to use it.”

 

Nargothrond was the closest large town three hours by car from Formenos, roughly three the size of its northern sister-city. By train, it was one and a half hour to Formenos.  

 

“Good, then we can plan for that evening meal then, since that train is almost never late during summer time. It is winter with ice and snow which can delay the trains here.”

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Two days later, Celegorm was about to start driving to Formenos' sole train station with the task of waiting for Dior in the waiting hall outside the Arrival railroad tracks, when his cell phone was ringing in a chest pocket on his leather jerkin.

 

“Yes?” Celegorm asked. It turned out to be Dior who had called:

 

“Celegorm? I am in Nargothrond right now, and thought it a good time to call one of your numbers to tell where I am when I saw the payphone here on the station. The train should leave for Formenos in half a hour if nothing happens.”

 

“Good that you called, then we know where you are and roughly when you will arrive. Have you eaten anything during the day?”

 

“I bought a chicken salad with a large cheese sandwich and some water bottles in the restaurang wagon at lunch, but I have not eaten much outside a few apples since then. Knowing myself, I will likely need a cup of tea when I arrive o Formenos, if only to keep myself awake because I am really starting to feel tired after so many hours of travel.”

 

Celegorm smiled for himself, people often underestimated how long it took to travel by train to his hometown, even if it was rather comfortable to travel by train and not needing to drive the whole way. Often it was such people who wondered why Formenos did not have a airport, and the local response generally reminded of how much space a airport would take, and that it would not be the smartest place for it right beside a national park.    

  


Arriving by car to the sole train station in Formenos did not take long, only fifteen minutes by car. There was a green field where Huan could run around instead of being in a leash while they waited for the train, since there was a huge net fence around the train station to prevent that a moose or other large animals from the forests from entering and possibly hit to be hit by the oncoming train.

 

“Celegorm!” greeted a female cashier to him from the café, being a former classmate of his. The third son of Fëanor waved to her, then seated himself on a bench in a sunny spot where he would be seen by those who left the train.

  


Now, there was nothing strange with that the train could be a few minutes late, there was a few places closer to Formenos where the train needed to slow down if there was a large forest animal on the rail. But time passed, and when it had gone over half a hour past the intended time of arrival, Celegorm began to get worried. He had his gun with him in the car, but he hoped that he would not be called to shoot a deer which had stopped the train by being hit. Suddenly his cell phone called.

 

“Orodreth?” he wondered with unease in his voice at hearing that it was the second one of Finarfin's four sons.

 

“Celegorm, I am calling you because there was a emergency alarm from the train that would have come to Formenos half a hour ago. You know those fools who does not believe allergies to be real, that people are just making it up, right? Well, one such guy had the brilliant idea of seating himself in the wagon meant to be solely for allergic people and opening a bag of peanuts….”

 

Celegorm went cold in terror at those words. Dior had mentioned to have a seat in that wagon….

 

“ **What happened?! If that bastard have killed the teenager meant to be a new foster child in my family, a sixteen** - **year**  - **old boy, thanks to that ignorance, I am going to shoot him with my own gun even if the law says that it would be murder!!** ”

 

Appenely Orodreth had expected a such reaction, based on what he said next:

 

“No need to shoot that guy, though he is bound to find himself in deep trouble with the law for not using his common sense, yes. Thanks to the modern alarm going off at detecting those “forbidden food to bring” into that wagon, the train was preventing from leaving Nargothrond station, but at least five people with peanut allergy was rushed to the hospital here, I believe one brown-haired teenager to be the one you seek, I had just stabilized him when I saw your number on the list peking out of his jack pocket.”

 

“I am coming over to Nargothrond, right now. I want to see that he is out of danger with my eyes, even if I know that you are a skilled doctor for those who suffers from allergy.”  

Whistling on Huan to come and jump into the car, Celegorm then called his parents to let them know what had happened to Dior and that he would drive to Nargothrond and likely not be back home until the next day, hopefully bringing Dior along if the teenager was well enough to be released from the hospital. Then he drove up to the main road in Formenos which would lead to the highway out of the city.

 

“Damn it, this journey for Dior just had to be ruined by a idiot, huh?” he growled for himself, focusing on the road toward Nargothrond. It would take him three hours to get to Nargothrond even with almost no traffic at night, and visiting hours in the hospital was not allowed past eight in the evening, but he knew a few 24-7 motels in the city where people could get a reasonable price worthy room for the night without paying too much and where there would be a connecting kennel for Huan to sleep in. With tourist season not starting yet for two weeks, he would not need to worry about the chosen motel being fully booked. It was going to be a long night of worrying and anxiety for the whole family tonight.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skooge is meant to be this story's version of Google, I got the idea for the name from a an information film about the arctic fox in Sweden and Norway with puppet animation. Since skog means "forest" in my naive Swedish, I thought it could fit


	4. Finally arriving to a new home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celegorm brings Dior home to Formenos

Celegorm had managed to got a place to sleep for both himself and Huan. They were not often in Nargothrond but some people worked in Formenos and thus could recognized them. As he was eating some breakfast of ham sandwiches, fried eggs and small sausages together with a large cup of coffee, he called Orodreth to hear any news about Dior:      

 

“Yes, he is much better now after getting a epinephrine shot by a quick-acting nurse who is always travelling on the train for emergency cases during the journey and then resting here over the night. It seems like prior to losing his mother, no one have been thinking of teaching him how to give himself a epinephrine shot if he have a such severe allergic reaction as yesterday evening, so I will prescribe epinephrine for Dior and teach him how to give himself a shot this morning before he is released from the hospital.”

 

“Thanks, Orodreth. Had you not called yesterday, we would have been worried sick over that something must have happened to him and with Dior not being used to have a cell phone, we would have no way to call him,” Celegorm said, before drinking up the last of his coffee.

 

That about Dior not having a cell phone of his own for communication, had been one of the first things he had called his family while driving the long way to Nargothrond yesterday evening. Curufin had promised to get one of Celebrimbor's older cell phones for Dior to use, the model which had been popular roughly five years ago in the big cities south but in Formenos changing your cell phone every year just to get a new fancy one was not viewed with kind eyes. Rather, it was nothing unusual to see young school children having a cell phone once used by their older siblings only a few years earlier.

 

“Well, time to get him home. The whole family is waiting and would be calm by knowing that he have arrived.”

  
  


In the hospital of Nargothrond:

 

Dior had heard about the unhealthy food served at hospitals, but here in Nargothrond the kitchen staff was determined to protest against that idea and made meals from only the very best commodities that could be purchased in the area's food stores. He had been greatly surprised by the fact that he could choose from a daily menu, fill in the choices he wanted for breakfast and that there even was food created especially for those with food allergies.

 

In a small act of defiance against the vegan breakfasts Luthien always had insisted on feeding him, Dior had chosen three French toasts with honey, breakfast egg muffins, a few fruit slices and a huge cup of lemon-flavored tea. The nurse had not protested when he had mentioned that he was not used to huge breakfast servings, and wanted to avoid a stomach ache later because he had eaten too much. Dior only hoped that she did not think that he was suffering from anorexia, he knew that he was thin but not that underweight!

 

“....and make sure to buy some warm outdoor clothes, this is a case where spring clothes really is needed.”

 

It was the voice of doctor Orodreth, who had taken care of him yesterday evening and earlier this morning had showed Dior how to give himself a epinephrine shot with a epipen next time he had a such reaction to peanuts. There was a silver-blonde person with him, and whose voice sounded slightly familiar.  

 

“Alright, Dior, I have brought some packets with epipens for you to have in a small waist bag to carry, and one of your new foster brothers, Celegorm, have arrived to pick you up so you can arrive to Formenos despite that the last morning train went off a hour ago.”    

 

“Really?”

 

Dior was honestly surprised over that Celegorm had driven the whole way just to pick him up, though he tried to hide how emotional he felt for a moment, because he honestly had expected to need waiting on the midday train to Formenos today.

 

“Yeah, Orodreth called me about what happened yesterday and since the local trains only goes five times a day here in each direction, twice in the morning and evenings with a midday train as well, it would make you need to wait a long time to arrive to Formenos.”

 

Dior looked with honest curiosity at Celegorm, who was handsome in a manly way which his grandfather had never managed despite being a wealthy businessman, the strong body and clothing which spoke of a active outdoor life. In fact, Dior felt as if he was face to face with a wild being, a free spirit which could not be restrained to a domestic, everyday life of the modern world. No, this man looked like he would fit the image of a forest ranger perfectly.

 

“....thank you for coming all the way here…” Dior finally managed to say, suddenly feeling the need to cover up his thin body in all the warm clothing he had brought. When Celegorm reached out to have them shook hands in greeting, Dior felt hopelessly weak in the strength of the larger hand, especially given seeing just muscular Celegorm was. Even if Celegorm was careful, he could tell from how thin the smaller hand felt, that Dior really needed to put on weight. There was some strength, yes, but very small.

 

“Thin like a little bird, my parents are going to feed you a lot more than what you ate before, that is for sure.”

 

Dior's suitcase with clothes and a few personal things was thankfully placed under the hospital bed, so they could leave almost right away once Dior had a change to fresh clothes. Given how thin Dior was, Celegorm did not comment about the teenager dressing as if it was early spring outside and not early summer, or even about the gloves Dior wore to keep his hands warm.  

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Huan was very eager to see his owner come out with the teenager towards the car, but only greeted Dior with a friendly lick of the tongue as Celegorm placed the suitcase in the trunk cover.

 

“Huan is a big cuddle when it is not work in the forest for us. He is more of a working dog than a pet, because he enjoys the hunting so much, but I think he likes you already.”

 

From the passenger seat, Dior had a very good view of the outer parts of Nargothrond, because the hospital was not placed clear the city centrum, mainly to avoid that rush hour traffic every morning and evening could get in the way for the ambulances. Celegorm knew the best way out from the city without getting caught up in traffic, and drove carefully.

 

“It takes three hours by car or bus to Formenos, so I suggests that we will stay somewhere in one of the smaller communities which is roughly a hour outside Nargothrond along the road and take something to eat so you will not look like you are about to faint from hunger when we arrives home to the family.”

 

Dior blushed, but understood why. He had eaten a good-sized breakfast according to the amounts he was used to eat, but he knew that within a few hours, he would soon feel that it was not enough to last until a similar-sized lunch.

 

“Ok...you are familiar with this place, not me…”

 

Nodding, Celegorm started to focus on the road in front of him while Dior watched the landscape.

  


A hour or so later, Celegorm drove into the former mining community known as Erebor from its earliest days as the first mine workers had found a good mine for gold. Nowadays the mine was left untouched because the community instead focused on making some of the finest handmade jewelry in Valinor with precious stones and metals brought from the outside, while the old gold mine was guarded very good to avoid that some gold-greedy fool found themselves in a unsafe part of the mine and basically entered their own tomb without understanding the dangers.

 

“Here we are. A old favorite place of my family back when my brothers and I was young, perfect for school trips as well,” Celegorm said, parking the car outside a sightly old-looking restaurant named Arkenstone Pancakes. Yet it had a homely feeling, welcoming people to come inside.

 

“Oh, look at who that arrived! Did your parents manage to have enough energy left for a surprise kid years after the twin terrors they intended to be their final ones of seven sons? I guess that mother nature found your family better suited for boys than girls, then. Or did your oldest brother find out that he got some old flame blessed in the manner of motherhood? The lad looks a little like him,” a older woman with grey streaks among her otherwise raven-black hair, commented at seeing Celegorm entering with Dior behind, after tying up Huan to the small “dog bar” in the shade of the restaurang.  

 

“Hello again, lady Dis. And no, Dior is not my brother or a until-now unknown nephew. He is the newest foster child in the family and due to some unplanned event yesterday, he got stranded in Nargothrond on the way to Formenos with the train and I had to get him there,” Celegorm responded, while Dior mentally counted. So Celegorm and his two oldest brothers were old enough to possibly have children in his own age as a result of a summer fling in their own youth, as his grandfather had called it. That alone would be a detail to make them undesirable to be seen around, had Thingol ever heard such rumours.

 

“Ah, we all heard about that idiot and the forbidden peanuts on the train, it was on the local radio yesterday evening. That guy is going to find himself with a huge amount of compensation to pay to those who had a severe allergic reaction to the peanuts and likely also face a trial for negligent homicide, because one woman in her late forties died from the peanuts as a result of sitting right beside him.”

 

Dior shuddered, recalling his growing panic at the smell of peanuts and how he had forced himself out though the wagon door in a desperate attempt to get away before his trouble to breathe became worse. Dying young as a result of his allergy, was not how he intended for his life.   

 

“Alright, we are here for a early lunch, not sharing gossip, thank you.”

 

Giving Dior a gentle push in the back, Celegorm guided the teenager towards a table with two chairs to sit on. There was a menu on the table, and Celegorm told of the various pancakes served:

 

“The basic is plain and simple pancake batter, which can be flavored by demand, and made thin or thick. The toppings are either melted chocolate, honey, different berry jams or whipped cream.”

 

Looking over the offers for a few moments, Dior made his choice:

 

“Thick pancakes with mashed banana in the batter and melted chocolate on top with a glass of lemon water, please.”

 

There was a open glass window to the kitchen where they could watch Dis make the batter and then fry the pancakes in two separate frying pans with a skill that revealed lifelong exercise from childhood, that she had done this all her life and enjoying it still, taking pride in what she was doing. It was the same with how careful she added on the toppings, showing that despite being a woman past her prime and youth, she did it all with such elegance that Dior couldn't take his eyes off her.  

 

“Her family was one of the first mine workers here in Erebor two hundred years ago, and the wives and daughters started the restaurang as a attempt to ensure that they both earned a few extra coins outside selling needlework and could feed theír menfolk after a long way of working in the mine, or at least offer a quick-to-make breakfast for those workers who had a long distance to go and could not eat a warm meal at home before it was time to leave for work. It have been successful for so many generations that nowadays, people can not imagine Erebor without Arkenstone Pancakes. A important part of the community here and any attempts of opening a fast food restaurant is bound to not work, especially those brands who belongs to a chain store. People here in the north of Valinor likes the old things which rarely changes, which serves the same food they always have done,” Celegorm explained as they waited for their food to be served. Dior listened with big attention, this information was far better than the dull history lessons with his private tutors.         

Apparently, people here did eat a lot more than what he was used to, for Dis returned with no less than five pancakes on the plate for Dior and a whole seven blueberry-flavored thick pancakes and honey for Celegorm, who had taken plain water to drink since he was the one driving.

 

“I have two boys of my own, and knows very well how much teenage boys can eat when they are hungry. That age group is a guaranteed customer base, because they know that here they can eat how many pancakes they want until they are satisfied. Besides, you look like you could need a few extra kilos on that skinny body,” Dis smiled gently at Dior when she saw his shocked face.

 

“....thank you,” Dior managed to say, feeling like it almost was a dream he would wake up from any moment. Even after the first tasting, he had to fight down the so formal table manners he had been raised with. It was really wonderful to finally be able to eat as much as he wanted, without his mother harshly reminding of that he had to remain slim and be satisfied with the size of his portions that she had allowed.

 

Celegorm smiled behind his water glass at seeing the ravenousness Dior revealed as he ate, not protesting at the request for seconds the moment the plate was empty. Again he wondered just how strict Luthien had been with only vegan food to her son and how blind she must have been to that as a teenager, Dior would need a lot more food than as a child.

 

Finally, after eating eight pancakes, Dior felt that it was enough to last for a few hours until lunch. But he still had two left on the plate, which made him feel guilty over leaving food.

 

“Do not worry, lad. For customers who can not eat their full order, we allows them to take the remaining pancakes as food they can eat in the car or train as they travel.”

 

Again Dis showed off a unexpected elegance in what she was doing, rolling up the remaining pancakes from his plate into aluminum foil before placing them in a small wooden box with a lid which also had a little rounded handle, every part of the box was a simple but beautifully worked craft itself, a perfect size to make it a lunch box.

 

“You made a good timing by arriving before the lunch rush, because soon this place will be filled with hungry people that will request food and it can become pretty crowded,” Dis spoke with Celegorm as he paid her for the food. Dior noticed that there was none of those little machines at the cash register, to pay by card which had become so common nowadays, and that Celegorm used paper money and a few coins to pay.

 

“So called “old-fashioned” money is to prefer here in the north, mainly because harsh storms in the autumn and winter seasons can cause power failure, and in a such situation, it would become impossible to pay for the food or other needed items at all.”

 

Well, that was pretty logical if people was used to having some problems in everyday life from the weather.

 

After picking up Huan, it was time to keep driving towards Formenos.

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Dior found that he liked Formenos already on the first look of the northern city as Celegorm drove closer. It held that charm of older places with wooden houses and livestock in pastures along the road, without everything which seemed too modern.

 

“My family is living just over here to the left city border. We live close enough to be able to take a bicycle into the center in five minutes when we  do not need the cars. And there is not so many modern cars here either, most of them are older models and even a few horse-drawn carriages for those who prefer to use that, especially since we have a local horse farm here as well, a bit away from the national park. They offer riding tours for tourists during summer and the horses are very useful in their own way,” Celegorm explained as he drove off to the left after that they passed the huge sign which read:

 

**_WELCOME TO FORMENOS_ **

 

“You mean those huge draft horses, right? I have seen some of them in those history programs with actors, but my family tended to prefer sport horses instead, especially grandfather who said that they were more elegant and suitable for the nobility of the south.”

 

That caught Celegorm's attention.

 

“Are you used to riding, then?”

 

“No, I have not ridden since I outgrew the pony I once had when I was younger and I was not given one bigger horse to keep training on my riding skills. For some reason my mother did not seem to like..signs of that I was growing up.”

 

Celegorm could hear that Dior was not really wanting to speak of the past, it seemed like Luthien brought up a mixture of contrasting feelings and it was also possible that Dior regretted not being able to be present at the burial, which would be a public one in two weeks. Still, given how he had been hidden away from the media attention all his life, it was perhaps for the best that he was not there.

 

“Ah, home sweet home. It will be only my parents home now at lunch, the rest of this big family will arrive to meet you in the evening, so you can get some hours resting from the long journey to come to Formenos.”

 

The wooden villa looked very cosy, despite that it was very big and seemed to have far more rooms than the small cottages Dior could see a bit away. Perhaps those was to be rented out to tourists during summer?

 

“Yes, it is nice to finally be here.”

 

As they came out from the car and Celegorm took the suitcase after letting Huan ut, Dior took a deep breath to steady himself. There was no reason to freak out all suddenly, when he had not even meet his foster parents yet. It was time to start a new page in life, one where his maternal family was not present, and it would start here.

  


It was smelling very nice from the kitchen when they entered the villa. Celegorm could tell from the smell that it was cooked pasta with a creamy salmon sauce, one of the food dishes served in his childhood because his parents knew that all of their seven sons would eat it. Hopefully his dad had made that wonderful chocolate mousse as well to serve as dessert.  

 

“Mom, dad, I have come home with Dior.”

 

Some steps was heard as if a person turned around while wearing indoor shoes, and then a red haired woman with her hair up in a braided bun showed herself in the doorway to the kitchen.

 

“Oh, welcome home, both of you, just in time for lunch. Dior, I hope that the journey was not too horrible after what happened on the train yesterday evening? We were worried about you,” Nerdanel assured in a kind voice, quickly cleaning off her hands on a kitchen towel and tossed it over to land on the kitchen counter before she came over into the large living room.  

 

It look Dior a lot of self-control to not start crying all suddenly when Nerdanel offered him to sit down at the dining table with Celegorm while she and Fëanor got the food, and that was not just because he was tired after spending over twelve hours of travel over two days to a unknown place. Just coming here, to a family who was worrying about him already before he even had arrived, was a such a contrast to his maternal family.

 

“I am tired after everything….” Dior managed to say, and Celegorm saw no reason to doubt that.

 

“No one would protest if you takes a nap on the tv couch after lunch, given how long you traveled yesterday. The knitted blankets and the pair of pillows are there for that very reason.”

 

Dior nodded faintly, trying to keep himself aware just for a little more so he would not fall asleep in the middle of lunch. It would be wonderful to sleep later.       ****    

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I simply used the most common name for French toast rather than making up a name for it
> 
> and Erebor seems fitting as a place for a old gold mine, given that it is a Dwarven Kingdom in canon, right?


	5. Living in the north

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior meets everyone in his new foster family

Nerdanel and Fëanor allowed Dior to sleep a few hours, the long journey had taken a lot of his energy since it had taken longer than planned and he needed to grow comfortable around them too. His suitcase had been brought to the bedroom he was going to have as his own, and left there on the bed without being opened.                

 

“...good, then we will see which of your outgrown clothes he could borrow until that we have brought new ones for him. That poor boy is so thin that he will freeze easy, he really can not go out in the thinner summer clothes of the south here unless he want to catch a summer cold,” Nerdanel thanked her grandson on the phone, having just spoken with Celebrimbor about something very important in her eyes. She knew of the temperature differences between Formenos and the south of Valinor, which could be felt all year around, not just in winter which was the worst normally. Celebrimbor, who had lived his whole life here like his father and uncles, knew better than to expect that a warm summer day would remain like that from dawn to dusk, sometimes the weather could change all suddenly, and very fast. Dior would need proper clothes for that kind of summer weather. 

  
  


Fëanor himself was busy with cooking in the kitchen. Over the years, he and his wife had figured out the best ways to cook meals big enough for the whole family, and more when two of their sons had married as well. Basically, making it like they had invited a lot of guests and all that.   

 

“The cold meat of that younger boar Celegorm shot two weeks ago, mincing it nicely in the food processor, then mixing it with cold cream and egg yolks…”

 

The potatoes meant to become mashed potatoes later, was already washed and peeled, laying in the large pot to be boiled soon. Green peas was also going to be served. 

 

“Oh, the jar with lingonberry jam is almost empty…”

 

Thankfully, he could call one of his sons and ask to buy some more jars of that jam from the food store on the way home, it was a important part of this dish and it would not taste the same without.   

 

“Time to set the potatoes to boil, the smaller pot with green peas ready to be set on later…” 

 

One of the best things about having a son who was a hunter, was that they could count on having fresh meat in the freezer. Not only was it ecologic meat directly from nature and with Celegorm making sure to never bring home meat from a sick animal, they saved a lot of money instead of needing to buy it from the food store as well.  

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Celebrimbor had just arrived to the villa of his grandparents, his arms filled with some boxes of clothes, when two smaller bicycles arrived as well. 

 

“Cousin!” 

 

It was Elrond and Elros, his six-year-old twin cousins by Maglor and Rainiel, who arrived back home from the special school trip they had done with their forest kindergarten class as a good ending of the school year.

 

“Hello, how was the trip to help cleaning out the camping place just outside the entree to the national park?” 

 

Elros, as always, was the one to first speak up:

 

“You would not believe how some people are too lazy to clean up after them, cousin Cel! There was a lot of plastic left dumped on the ground, where the smaller animals could mistake it as food and eating it!” 

 

“And a lot of cigars that could easily start a fire if it is really dry in the ground, uncle Celegorm always complaints about that danger and tourists who just drop the cigars to the ground, so I remembered that,” Elrond added in as the twins led their small bicycles to the shed meant for the family bicycles. Celebrimbor made a face, the people living here in Formenos itself tried to avoid using one-time plastic products as much as possible, mainly because of how close they lived to the national park and knowing how bad it was for nature if the humans could not bother to clean up after themselves. 

 

“Good thing that all the schools have a routine of focusing at least one school trip a month to clean things up in nature. A school class can clean up a lot in one day, thanks to all the hard-working students, and I am sure that the animals are grateful as well, even if they do not show it.” 

 

“Yeah, it may not be that fun to clean up if it is horrible weather outside, but it is so nice to see how clean it becomes again once all the human stuff is gone.” 

 

Celebrimbor escorted his cousins inside, listening on all the events of their school trip. Family dinners with the whole family gathered generally happened at weekends, but times like this, when there was a foster child to welcome, they would come together for a welcoming dinner after that his grandparents generally used the first day to allow their new foster son or foster daughter to settle in before all the brothers came home.     

  
  


Dior had now woken up from his nap, first confused at where he was, before remembering.  

 

“I hope that I can manage to adjust to a very different family than my own…” 

 

To be honest, he was actually somewhat afraid of that he would be unable to adjust, being home-schooled had limited his past changes to meet with people in his own age and he was most used to adults, or at least those past the age of twenty because the household staff had a age limit to how young they could be. 

 

There was also the fact that he had grown up watching the “outside world” like a bird in a cage, wanting to step out of his bonds but also scared. To try and think of something else, he stood up and walked over to where a opened leaflet was on the table.  

 

“Oh, so the schools here in Formenos are actually joined together to form a escalator school?”

 

Given that Formenos was a bit more rural than the other cities, that could be a way to gather together all the young children, preteens and teenagers in the area to know how many they were. In a city with only 1000 permanent residents, not counting those who came from outside Formenos for work or any schooling starting past high school, the younger population was probably an important part of keeping Formenos alive. 

 

“Uncle Celegorm did not joke about that you looks very feminine for a boy at first look.” 

 

Dior looked up at the new voice, and saw a teenager, perhaps two years older than himself, standing in the doorway between the living room and the dining room. Like the other men in the family, he wore his black hair long in a manner which was not so common anymore in the south, but reported to still be a normal hairstyle for both men and women in the north of Valinor because it offered a extra layer of warmth in winter. 

 

“Cousin Cel!”       

 

Before anything else happened, Dior found his attention caught by two young children, likely twins because of their very alike faces, showing up behind the other teenager. Celegorm came right after them. 

 

“Ah, good timing for showing up. Dior, this is my nephews, the oldest one is Celebrimbor, while those two rascals are Elros and Elrond.”   

 

One of the twins made a face at getting his hair ruffled by Celegorm as the hunter spoke.

 

“We are well-behaved, uncle.”

 

It was Elrond, the quieter twin, which was easy to tell for those who knew them well enough to be able to spot the differences. For people who saw them for the first time, the boys could be mistaken as identical at a distance but in reality they were semi-identical and shared only the black hair from Maglor and the grey-blue eyes from Rainiel, while also inheriting different traits from both sides of their family tree.  

 

“It is dinner time! Everyone, get to the table at your fixed chairs, you know what we have said about fights starting because one of you wants a different place!” Nerdanel called, and Celegorm led the four youngsters there. 

  
  


Dinner went rather well. No one seemed offended by that Dior seemed hesitant to participate in the discussions around the table, instead mostly watching them all as he ate. But the teenager was surprised by the taste of the boar meat  Fëanor had used. A chance to eating meat was rare for him before, but he had managed to taste enough to feel that the meat of a wild animal tasted very differently. 

 

“It is something of a unspoken culture here in Formenos to use the meat of the animals we hunts. It is not uncommon that we need to control the deer population and other wildlife which threatens crops fields or overgrazing the forests, especially with the national park so close to Formenos itself and the local villages and farms. Besides, game is a natural food here,” Celegorm explained when Dior asked what kind of meat it was.  

 

“You have not eaten meat before?” Elros wondered from his seat beside his dad, his mouth half-filled with mashed potatoes. 

 

“Don't talk and eat at the same time with your mouth full, son, it does not look nice for those who is watching,” Maglor scolded gently, using one hand to push up the jaw of Elros so his mouth was closed. 

 

“My mother was….very strict about about feeding me almost only vegan food, so I have only tasted meat a few times before. So this is the first time I actually taste wild game…”

 

Then Elrond was the disobeying twin for once; standing up on his chair so he could better grab hold of the larger plate where some patties still remained, he then did his best to push the plate along the table so it would stop in front of Dior. 

 

“Not like that!” 

 

Clearly it was not the first time this happened at the mealtimes in this family, given how quickly Maedhros and Fëanor stopped the plate together with their hands before the two pitchers with lemon water and milk was knocked over. 

 

“Elrond, let us adult pass the food plates further, ok? It would not have been nice to need cleaning up the spilled milk and water in the middle of dinner,” Rainiel requested to her younger son, while her mother-in-law muttered something about that some things never changed in the family no matter which generation. 

 

“But I wanted Dior to have more meat!” 

 

Even if it was a childish logic, it was well-intentioned and Dior chose to take a quarter from one the remaining patties, he would have wanted a whole one but did not want to become sick from it later.

 

“I needs to become used to meat slowly. Too much at once risks to make a upset stomach. But thank you for the offer.” 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

After the dinner, with Amrod and Amras getting the task of watching the children's program on TV with their nephews, Celebrimbor and Dior made another task that needed to be checked;

 

Almost all the clothes Dior had brought along in the suitcase, was not fitting for the colder temperature of northern Valinor and would be practically useless even now in summer, given that the summer weather was much warmer in the south. As a result, Dior had tried to see which ones of Celebrimbor's clothes he could fit into, Nerdanel standing ready with needles to mark where they needed to be sewn in to fit him. 

 

“As we already suspected, the clothes needs to be sewn in a little because they are almost too large for you currently. It seems like our oldest grandson was more fit than you in the same age.”

 

Celebrimbor was not only a good bit taller than Dior due to being two years older, he was also more muscular thanks to choosing to train as a blacksmith future profession. As a result, the clothes he had outgrown was making Dior seem like he was wearing baggy clothing due to the difference of their body shapes. 

 

“....no, I needs to add on weight and become stronger as well. It was my mother wishing me to be thin like those fashion models at the Doriath Beauty company, though I have no idea why she did so…”

 

There was a bitterness in his voice which revealed that Dior really did not want to talk about Luthien or anything related to his birth family. 

 

“Alright. The three sweaters and the cardigans can be left as they are, the sleeves should be long enough to cover your hands if you are freezing. T-shirts, the long-sleeved spring shirts, hoodies and the soft pants only needs to be sewn up a few centimeters on the length and in the sides of the legs so they will not look baggy, I can fix those here at home with my own sewing machine. The jeans, on the other hand…”

 

Dior spoke up again when Nerdanel was about to mention a suggestion for the jeans:

 

“ **_I do not like jeans._ ** They restrains movement and I finds it difficult to breathe when I had to wear a pair of them back at my childhood home.” 

 

“ _ Did Luthien make him wear those jeans that only rail-thin photo and fashion models can manage to wear because of constant dieting?! _ ” Nerdanel thought in growing desire of being able to resurrect Luthien and give the other woman a long tongue-lashing over how she had raised Dior, which she managed to avoid showing on her face. Which the two teenage boys did not notice due to talking between themselves.   

 

“Then, maybe some cargo pants instead, which you can wear leggings under as a extra layer for warmth? Grandma should be able to alter my old ones until that we buys some new ones for you in the sport shop sometime during the week,” Celebrimbor offered as suggestion, which Dior liked. Despite that Dior was not used to people around his own age, it seemed that Celebrimbor's friendly nature had helped him to open up a little. It was good, as the orphaned teenager could need a friend.

 

“Training clothes...or at least those used for jogging, I used to do that around the large garden at my old home. The electrified palisade fences was impossible to pass though and the electric gate was guarded by those guard dogs I told Celegorm about on the way here…” 

 

Dior failed to notice the horrified looks on Nerdanel's and Celebrimbor's faces, as he stood with his back against them.  

 

“Seriously, was it to keep the media from finding out about him or flat out keeping Dior as a prisoner in his own home?!” Nerdanel wondered, while Celebrimbor pretended to ask Dior which shoe size he had, since the sixteen-year-old was going to need new shoes for outdoor life as well. 

  
  


Back out in the kitchen, where some of the older sons was helping Fëanor to wash the dishes before the dishwasher would be filled and started, they took the chance to talk about the plans for tomorrow. 

 

“I would not be surprised if Dior will spend tomorrow and the following days just to try and familiarize himself with our home, I believe that it will be a whole new world for him to explore here, because this is a far cry from the south.” 

 

They could hear the voices of Nerdanel, Dior and Celebrimbor from the main hallway leading to the bedrooms on the first floor, where the master bedroom and guest rooms was. The old bedrooms for the seven brothers was on the upper floor, which had once made it the “child floor” as Mahtan once had joked because it was easier for the adults to socialize on the first floor with the children sleeping on the floor above. 

 

“Sounds like there is some shopping needed over the coming days as well. Might be a good time to show Dior that here in Formenos, payment via cash is preferable,” Maglor said as he placed the last plate in the dishwasher and started it.

 

“And that certain city people from the south never learns that no, you can not pay with credit cards here because of the high risk of power failure in nature storms during autumn and winter. How on Arda are you supposed to pay if the payment system does not work?” Maedhros commented from where he cleaned and dried off the kitchen-sink. 

 

“I showed him that at Arkenstone Pancakes where we ate a early lunch,” Celegorm added in, before Huan barked at him as a reminder for their evening walk before it was getting time for heading home to his own cottage for the night. Maglor looked at the clock on opposite wall. 

 

“The boys shall be in bed for the night in a hour. Time to go home.” 

 

Rainiel had already gathered Elrond and Elros, who actually looked a little tired after the day. Curufin and his wife Astarë planned to go home soon as well, while their son likely would follow eventually. Caranthir had finished a last-minute check on a special order for his work as one of the chiefs at the local trade center in Formenos. 

 

“Celebrimbor will bring back home the clothes that is not useable for Dior, remind him of that, please, since they originally was planned to go to charity.” 

 

Amrod and Amras was finished with their task of water the flowers in all the windows both downstairs and upstairs for their mother, since she was needed in the guest room at the moment. 

 

“See you tomorrow, dad and mom. Hope that this will be a calm first night for Dior here,” Maedhros greeted in good-bye, being the last son to leave the villa after his brothers. 

  
  


In fact, Dior found himself exhausted after the clothing test and has requested to be left alone when they were done. The long travel and all the new impressions had drained his energy again despite the nap during the afternoon. So, after brushing his teeth, making the braid he normally slept with to prevent his hair from tangles and dressing in his pajamas, he almost collapsed down on the bed. 

 

“Nerdanel said that she and Fëanor would stay up to ten in the evening if there was something I needed….” 

 

Tomorrow after breakfast, they would go over the rules of this household so he would know what he was allowed to do and not do. Hopefully it would not be as many rules as his mother once had insisted on. 

 

“I refuse to be like a bird in a cage again...never again…”

 

Despite that it was only eight in the evening, Dior fell asleep almost as soon as he had pulled the quilt over himself. The bed was warm and soft, feeling like a inviting nest in how different it was from his previous bed. He would not have to worry about not being warm enough as he slept, at least. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fëanor is making Wallenbergare, a Swedish recipe, originally made with the minced meat of calf, but you can use minced meat of pig too
> 
> Escalator school is a school that offers education from elementary or middle (or even from the kindergarten) until university. Escalator schools are so called because students usually rise to the next grade without having to take entrance exams. While many Western private schools are this way, escalator schools are far more prevalent in Japan and in the Philippines than in other countries.
> 
> Yes, in this story Elrond and Elros are the biological sons of Maglor and his in-canon unnamed wife, who I calls Rainiel for my stories, since I wanted to have some of the canon generations be able to show up without confusion about the canon family trees (like that Finwë and Indis never married here, Fingolfin and Finarfin only knows Fëanor as a slightly older friend from childhood who they still keep contact with). Identical twins in fiction are a such ancient, still alive cliché that I made Elrond and Elros semi-identical instead


	6. Explore a new place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior spend his first morning in the new family

It was the sun light which woke Dior from his sleep, and the song of birds outside the window. Barely half-awake, he grabbed his wristwatch to see what time it was:          

 

“07:30 in the morning….?” 

 

It was not that he had overslept far too much by his normal sleep scheme, he simply was surprised that he had slept for almost 12 hours, not counting waking up during the night to visit the bathroom. 

 

“Given how exhausting the total time of doing the journey was, I should have expected something similar to this…” 

 

But first, he needed a shower and change into fresh clothes. He had never been allowed to show up at the breakfast table still dressed in pajamas, unless it was one of the rare times when both his grandparents and mother was away on formal dinners or even important trips for their fashion company, which had meant that the house rules could be ignored for a few days. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Out in the kitchen, Nerdanel was making breakfast while Fëanor needed a huge cup of coffee to wake up properly. There was some leftovers from the weekend meals, so it was high time to use them in a different dish before they got bad or the fridge was full of leftovers. 

 

“Leftover meat from the roast chicken this Sunday, mix with chopped onion and a mustard dressing, and have it as filling in toasted sandwiches.” 

 

She hoped that Dior would not be fussy about food, now when he should be rested after sleeping and hopefully have more energy than yesterday.  

 

“Fëanor, drink up that coffee or you will fall asleep right where you sits at the table.”  

 

“Sorry.” 

 

He must have stayed up late with his ideas again, not that it surprised Nerdanel much. From a early age, Fëanor had a brilliant mind which would have been enough to land him as one of the most famous names in the world of science and technology, but he had always preferred a simple life here in Formenos instead, feeling as if the modern world was too many quick changes around him.  

 

“Hello?”

 

It was Dior, dressed in some of the clothes Nerdanel had resewn yesterday evening. It looked better now when they were not too big, and he still had room to dress up in several layers if he felt cold. 

 

“Good morning, Dior. I hope that you are hungry,” Nerdanel greeted kindly, setting down the plate with two finished toasted sandwiches in front of him where the teenager had seated himself at the table. 

 

“Oh, you do not serve porridge or yogurt?” Dior wondered, even if Nerdanel had set out a already opened yogurt package at the table with some homemade muesli.  

 

“Normally, but we have some leftovers that needs to be eaten up and a lot of things can be remade into a breakfast dish as well, if you know a few tricks on how to do it.”

 

Fëanor had now finished his coffee and brought out what was needed to make scrambled eggs to add on his toast. Dior only requested some tea outside a glass of juice, because he did not want his stomach to react badly on the food. This was very different from what he once had been served and it would be a waste of all their work if he had to throw up later. 

 

After breakfast, they went over the house rules Dior had as to follow as long as they were his foster parents. It was a lot more relaxing that the ones Luthien had insisted on, like helping out with the housework if it was needed, no smoking, no drinking of alcohol or use of drugs, but there was a few things standing out: 

 

“From two weeks on, be home at nine in the evening?” 

 

Dior checked the date on the weekly calendar hanging on the wall just to see if he had read it right. 

 

“Tourist season will start in that week, and not all of them are exactly what I would fall a friendly crowd. There have been incidents over the years, where adult tourists have drunk too many glasses of alcohol and start hitting on the local youngsters from Formenos, thinking that because we are so far north, the sons and daughters is naive about sex and thus a easy prey for one-night stands, sometimes not caring about the protests from the girl or boy in question. Same with arrogant youths hailing from the cities, believing that the girls will be easy conquests to win and not already warned by their parents against such idiots,” Nerdanel explained in a displeased voice, having seen it happen a few times to her own sons when they grew up and chasing away those creepy people with a real rolling pin of wood as her weapon.       

 

“You saw our oldest, Maedhros, yesterday, right? The really tall redhead, dressed in a leather jacket and a blue shirt. He would often have to deal with such people when he was a teenager, and you are another person who would get attention if you was walking outside late in the evening.” 

 

Dior paled when he realized that this must have been one of the reasons to why Luthien had not allowed any social media in their home. If some creep like those people saw a photo of him…

 

“I do not think I would manage a large crowd well anyway….” he admitted, trying to not start shivering in faint terror. A strong hand was placed on his shoulder for a little comfort. 

 

“That is why we have it planned that unless it by your own choice, you should not leave the large garden around the villa without someone to come along, be it one of us two, our sons, their wives or our three grandsons. Elrond and Elros may seem young for a such task, but they know their way around from here to the city center and know when to call a trustful adult if it needed.” 

 

That was logical, somehow, seeing that the six-year-old twins was known to keep their eyes out for dangers together, and four eyes saw more than two. 

 

“Grandpa!”

 

Speaking of which, said twins showed their faces in a half-open window, using a bench to reach up. 

 

“Can we and Celebrimbor show Dior around the garden? Uncle Celegorm is training Huan in the backyard!”  

 

The married couple looked at their new foster son, they were not going to choose for him. After a few moments of thinking, Dior agreed to come along outside.

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Celebrimbor had just finished making balance training on some old wooden stocks his grandfather once had brought there for his growing number of sons, when his cousins and Dior arrived. 

 

“I hope that my grandparents was not scaring you too much by mentioning some of the unpleasant things about the tourists coming here each summer,” the older teenager asked as they sat down on the bench at the side of the stocks. 

 

“At least I know what to worry about and be on guard against.” 

 

They spoke a little bit about the other rules Nerdanel and Fëanor wanted him to follow while living in the villa, before Dior was given a small tour in the garden. Celebrimbor explained why his father and uncles had not moved out in houses closer to the city center of Formenos; 

 

“Our family have always been close, and used to help each other out if it is needed. Like that I was often babysat by my uncles or grandparents when my parents had to work late. So once a son came of age, they would build one of those cottages as a house to call their own home. You do not need a big house if you are single and mostly works anyway, and a small home can always expanded.”

 

Celegorm, who had just finished some training with Huan by having the Irish wolfhound run around the whole garden along the wooden fence, heard the four young people talk together, and saw Celebrimbor even showing Dior how the cell phone actually worked, the model being that of a dumbphone. It was a good sign, having someone close to his own age would likely a great help for Dior before he would get to know a few others of the local youths. Elrond and Elros was good, but they were a full decade younger, and Dior had been a only child, so he would not really know how to be around smaller children. 

 

“So this number is…”  

 

The cell phone in his west pocket ringed, but Celegorm understood that Dior was mostly testing so he had understood the cell phone right. A basic understanding was there, but he had never gotten to actually test to use a cell phone before. 

 

“One of the good things about Formenos not having the latest models of cell phones or computers, is that you should be able to figure it out easier with this slightly older model. Social media can change very fast, but sometimes it is the old things which you can trust to keep working. ” 

 

Dior listened, testing to call the numbers to the cell phones owned by Celebrimbor and the twins as well.  

 

“I have heard about modern cell phones almost being like a miniature computer those days, from the servants who took care of the summer house where I lived, but I never really understood exactly what they meant. Especially as there was no real internet there since my grandparents and mother did not want them to get distracted from their chores by social media.” 

 

Dior could remember that once, a female student who had answered the job ad hoping to avoid paying rent for a single room while she was studying at college, had been seriously shocked when the housekeeper had told her that there was no internet in the summer house itself and that it would only be available in the two small cabins where the servants would have their private rooms. He even had overheard the student openly say out loudly that she would never stay and work in a such old-fashioned household. 

 

“The maids who had been in the household for a while, did admit that it was a little tricky to have their private cell phones locked up in a small safe during work day, especially if they were waiting for an important call or reminder that they had a booked time with the doctor or dentist.” 

 

It was only now, when he had left the summer house behind and spent ten days in the group home before arriving to Formenos, as Dior had started to realize what they actually had meant. Hopefully it could be fixed somewhat before he grew too old to easy learn new things, or he would have a lot of trouble as a adult in the modern world. 

 

“We gave a city map of Formenos here so you can see there we lives and where the most important buildings are.” 

 

The rest of the early forenoon was spent like that, with Dior asking about the various important buildings, the best ways to get where and getting answers about his questions. 


	7. What is right and wrong to do with animals?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior gets a few harsh lessons about how humankind and wildlife can crash

The first three days in Formenos had gone well for Dior, and on the fourth morning since he had came there, Celegorm requested him to come along on a drive around the city.           

 

“I will show you a few places that is not directly linked to the national park but which can still be a place to be careful in.”    

 

Dior eyed the hunting gun over his shoulder nervously. He and Celebrimbor had been enjoying some sandwiches as a snack outside in the garden as a mini picnic, when the hunter had came to them. 

 

“As long as you are not planning to show me how to hunt, I do not think I have enough body strength to hold the gun. Not that I am against animal killing…”

 

Celegorm shook his head in response.    

 

“No, I am only planning to show that there is a few places on the highway towards Formenos where it is better to drive slower because of the animals. There is game fences on both sides of the highway, but there is a hole at one point and it looks like a big moose bull are to blame for that. I want you to at least know where that spot is.”

 

That was not something Dior refused, he wanted to see a little more of the nature around Formenos and why not getting a chance to spend some time with Celegorm as well? All the seven sons of Fëanor and Nerdanel was working almost everyday, so he had mostly spent time with Celebrimbor, Elrond and Elros during the daytime so far. 

 

“That reminds me...surely Celebrimbor should be in school at least this week too, right? At least, from what I know of the common dates to start summer break for school-aged people? Being 12 years older, surely he would have a longer school day scheme than the twins?”

 

“Formenos and the smaller communities here in the north have a secret tradition of starting summer holidays two weeks before the rest of Valinor, mainly so you youngsters can enjoy the freedom of summer before the tourists start showing up and demand to do everything before us and we adults can spend time with our children in peace,” Celegorm smiled, adjusting his cap to shade the eyes of the sun. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

But they did not get to the place as originally planned. Suddenly, there was a call in the small radio. 

 

“ _ Hunter C-703, are you free from the national park today? _ ”

 

“Yes, I am. Have something happened?” Celegorm asked, using a small microphone in order to be able to both talk and focus on his driving at the same time. 

 

“ _ Traffic accident on Southern Highway. A SUV have collided with a young female moose, serious body damage on the moose. Expect to have to call the local slaughterhouse. _ ” 

 

Dior shuddered at the mention of that the slaughterhouse would have to be called, it could only mean one horrible thing. 

 

“You will need to shot the moose, right?” he wondered, feeling cold all over as Celegorm turned left to drive another way, trying to pull his hood over his head for warmth. 

 

“Most likely. It is not a good sign if the police on the place for the accident mention the slaughterhouse. Try and read that book if you want to focus on something more pleasant until that we arrives there.”

 

It was a book on edible plants that were found in nature from early spring until late autumn before winter arrived, which helped Dior to calm down a little bit. Not all of them was to be found here in the north, but he did recognize some of the plants used in cooking from when he had lived in the south of Valinor.  

  
  


It was not looking good at all with the SUV being basically a wreck in the front after the collision, even the inexperienced Dior could tell that when Celegorm arrived to there the accident had happened. A police car was already there, and the two policemen was trying to calm down the female driver who, despite a few cuts on the face from the glass pane, seemed to have escaped worse injuries, and was seen to be well-dressed in a manner which revealed either a well-paid work or a wealthy background. 

 

“Oh no,” Celegorm groaned, “not one of those people with next to no common sense about wild animals.” 

 

Before Dior could ask what he meant, Celegorm took his gun and left the car so the teenager and Huan was left inside. Apparently the female driver had expected something else, for she started to scream even louder than before at realizing that Celegorm was going to shoot the moose and even tried to snatch the gun from his hands. 

 

“I told you to call a vet, not a animal murderer!!” 

 

The two policemen took hold of her and actually put handcuffs on her behind her back. By how his face looked, Celegorm was likely on the edge of snapping at the woman.

 

“ **_And who do you expect to pay for the bill from the vet afterwards, woman? Look at the injuries you caused! The pelvis is broken in a such manner that the moose can not stand up, and how do you think that we will manage to transport it to the animal hospital?_ ** ”

 

He spoke in a cold, yet furious voice as he glared at the woman, and Dior realized that this had to be one such scene which made the townsfolk of Formenos disliked people who could not realize the difference between domestic animals and wild animals. 

 

“You still have no right to shoot….”

 

But before she could start a rant over that they should call the vet, Celegorm lifted his gun and ended the misery of the moose with a single shoot. The sound was deafening any protests.  

 

“ **_The mere scent of us humans are torture for wild animals, and even if we would manage to bring the moose to the animal hospital somehow, a wild animal would panic at being locked inside a animal transport for horses or cattle and risk to harm itself even more in a fanatic attempt to get out! Wild animals can respond to sedation in very unexpected manners, few vets know how to sedate a panice wild beast, they can lose control of their body temperature and die fast, or stop breathing and sometimes the sedatives wont work at all!_ ** ”  

 

Dior remained still in the car seat, trying to push down the feeling of nausea which was building up inside him. He did not see anything wrong in what Celegorm was telling the female driver, but that it was the first time he saw a shooting close up, was not so pleasant. 

 

Finally, the female driver was sent into the police car and taken to the police station with a promise of a added fine for attacking a legal hunter and trying to prevent him from doing his actual work, just as a truck from the local slaughterhouse came running. 

 

“No joke about that the slaughterhouse was the final destination for this poor girl, Celegorm, that pelvis would never have healed even with the help of our best vets and she would only have faced a life of endless pain if she had been allowed to live.”

 

Based on the size of the moose, she had to be a yearling, born only last spring, and likely not having mated yet. So thankfully there would be no motherless calf to track in the woods around, or let nature do its work with orphaned baby animals. 

  
  


As they drove back to Formenos, Celegorm did not fail to notice that Dior was unusual quiet, even more than during the journey from Nargothrond five days ago. 

 

“You would hardly be the first one to feel the need of emptying your stomach at the first sign of a such scene with a large animal.” 

 

“I am not feeling sick, unless you add in how it feels to see just how impossible it would have been to bring that moose to the vet without anymore injuries or dying on the way….she would not be the first one to think of you as a murderer of animals, right?”  __

 

Celegorm took a deep breath to calm himself so he would not sound like he was angry at Dior.

 

“Hardly the first one, yes. But what really annoys me to no end, is when they act as if large animals are the same as small pets, easy to hold down for a examination with a assistant or two. However wild animals are too powerful and unpredictable. Also, the sedation can make them hallucinate and then they become even more frantic so it is something which is done only if there is a minor injury and a controlled environment, like a zoo where the animal is used to people and won't freak out. And then we have those idiots who think in style of “ _ Why can't they just move the animals which are in the way? _ ”. They fail to realize the weight and size of a moose for example, even if it is just a dead body.”      

 

Not knowing what to say, Dior looked out through the car window. Then a movement somewhere. 

 

“Is that a baby fox!?”

 

Celegorm stopped driving at hearing it, and quickly saw why Dior had sounded so alarmed: 

 

A red fox kit had somehow gotten its head stuck inside the middle of a old car wheel at the side of the road, unable to get loose because the head had started to swell. In fact, the swelling had also gotten bad enough to the point that neither olive oil or liquid soap would not be of any help when Celegorm brought out a few bottles of said items from the car to test if he and Dior could free the kit by themselves at first. 

 

“Directly to the animal hospital with this one in the back seat, then, the left side of the first floor there is especially for wildlife.”

 

Huan was thankfully in the boot of the car and knew better than making any sounds because this was far from the first fox Celegorm had saved. Dior seated himself in the other back seat to hold up the wheel, so the kit was somewhat comfortable during the travel. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

At the animal hospital, they were greeted by one of the vet nurses, named Nellas, who hurried to bring her colleague Beleg, a vet among the staff who was specialized on wildlife. 

 

“My, this is a serious case, poor little fellow.”

 

First they had to sedate the terrified kit so it was unconscious, and then Dior got a first-hand lesson in how to try to free the young fox without needing to saw through the car wheel since that would be extra stressful. And with the face swollen up, it was far from easy. 

 

“What we need to do, is to enclose his head in plastic like this to act as a smooth route back, and the push the whole head back while inside there. The problem is that, it is easy to push something through one way, but then the head and skull are stuck….” Beleg explained as he tested various things to be their help, “that plastic-coated paper should be a good size in thickness…”

 

With Beleg wrapping that paper around the kit's head, they tested to push it a little back to see if it worked. Dior got the task of holding the wheel in place for the adults, while Nellas held of the body of the fox kit and Celegorm slowly pushed the improvised tube back though one side. They could not rush it or they risked to injury the kit more. 

 

“Almost all head though now...just a little more...there!” 

 

Finally, the kit was free from the wheel and Nellas hurried to place it back into anesthetic, as Beleg prepared a shot with some steroids to lessen the horrible swelling of the face. 

 

“If he is not injured any other way, he will be released back into the wild at the place where he was found.”

 

Once the kit started to wake up, they placed a muzzle on the face so they could clean up the remains of the olive oil and liquid soap on the neck and throat of the kit. 

 

“It was a nice try, but I am not sure that this little fellow liked to get a unusual bath in something that is not water!” Nellas joked as she carried away the kit to a quiet place so it could rest and recover before it was released back out in nature later in the afternoon. 

 

On the way out from the animal hospital, Dior saw a message on the wall that volunteers were welcome to help during the summer, especially young people who was interested in working with animals in some way. He took a paper on which a person could write down their name and address, but he only folded it together and put it in a pocket on the spring jacket he was wearing. He wanted to speak with Fëanor and Nerdanel first, as underaged people had to get permission of a parent or guardian for this kind of work.  

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

As it was not yet time for lunch, Celegorm and Dior took a break in a small cafe near the center of Formenos, Huan enjoying a little nap at the feet of his owner. Again Dior had proved just how controlled his eating habits had been in the past, for he was honestly surprised by that yes, he could order a huge cup of hot chocolate and even by that the cafe sold a rare treat in the south: 

 

The sweet roll known as a semla, served only at a special time in the spring. It had been rare for Dior to be able to taste it at any other time during the year.  

 

“One of our tasks as your foster family is to ensure that you are adding weight on your body, so do not feel ashamed over that both the chocolate and semla is rich in calories. You needs them.” 

 

Celegorm himself enjoyed a cup of plain black coffee and a piece of carrot cake, so Dior would not feel like he was the only one eating.  

 

“Your parents said that tomorrow, we would go to the clothes stores and buy the clothing I am missing from among the ones I could get from Celebrimbor.”

 

Logical, it was better to wait a few days so Dior could start feel at home in the villa, and get used to his foster family. And the weather had been nice so far, so he had been able to borrow a pair of sandals if he wanted be outside in the garden.  

 

“I saw that you took a paper about voluntary work at the animal hospital. Something you think that you would like to do?” 

 

Dior looked like he was not sure on how to explain it. 

 

“I know that I am not physically strong as I would have wanted to be, but I think I should be able to help with feeding the animals and cleaning out the cages at least.” 

 

“Trust me, they will need people already now, the baby season for wildlife is far from over just because summer is almost here. We never know when it is a need for our wildlife aid and many animal babies needs the help of humans if the parents abandon them for some reason. At the same time, there are people who think that a baby animal are abandoned just because the mother is not close by.” 

 

The rest of the small meal was spent with Celegorm telling how to deal with various baby animals that could seem abandoned, but in reality the mother was actually only feeding the offspring a few times over a day, and Dior writing down notes in the small exercise book he kept in another pocket of his jacket. It was good habit, especially if he did end up in a situation with baby animals and needed to look for the right signs on what to do. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole event with the fox kit and car wheel is directly inspired by a episode from Wildlife Aid in the UK
> 
> The Swedish-Finnish semla consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off, and is then filled with a mix of milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar.


	8. To slowly change, step by step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little shopping is needed

As they had warned him the day before, so did Fëanor and Nerdanel drive in to the shopping part of Formenos to help Dior find some of the clothes and shoes he needed.            

 

“Having all the clothes stores on the same street is from older times. By making where the various goods could be brought, they ensured that the fabrics would not smell from the butcher shop, that the bakery was close to the street with the early restaurants and so on.”

 

Dior listened as he watched the streets. In the city center itself, it was even a guidepost pointing towards where one could fit the right street for a particularly errand. 

 

“Can we go to the bookstore afterwards? On the group home, the other teenagers recommended a book serie which they believed to be found here…”

 

It seemed like Fëanor had a fair guess on what Dior wished to find:

 

“Oh, I guess that they meant the  _ Hunter Series _ ? Of course, that is a very useful book series to read, especially in the lessons in how to behave around wild animals and to survive in the wilderness!”   

 

And with that followed a long discussion on how the married couple had wished that there had been such useful books for their sons in the past, especially given how some things never changed with tourists who was too stupid for their own good. 

  
  


Shopping for clothes was not something Dior had done much in the past. Pretty much all of his old clothes had been chosen by Luthien from the annual line of clothing for teenagers, all designed by the designers in Doriath Beauty, of course. 

“How are the shoes feeling on your feet?”

 

Fëanor and Nerdanel allowed him far more freedom in testing out items that he really did not need, but wanted to feel how different they was against what he once had worn. 

 

“They feel good. Not too big, not too small or uncomfortable.” 

 

Right now Dior was testing for the right size on a pair of Chelsea boots and slip-on shoes, and they had already chosen some normal walking shoes, alongside a set of hiking boots because they did not doubt that Celegorm would bring Dior along for a day in the national park at some point just to show the wild animals there, and a sprained ankle was not something Dior would want on a hiking. 

 

“The walking shoes will be useful when you help out in the animal hospital. Even if you will only work for a few hours each day, you will need a good pair of shoes to walk in or you will end up with sore feet.”  

 

They also found a pair of boardshorts Dior could use while swimming, because he was not really likening the shorter variants. 

 

“It is not that I am prudish, I just do not like how much the shorter swimwear for men are similar to underwear.” 

 

Nothing wrong with that, the married couple did agree on. 

  
  


The bookshop was surprisingly large, but then again, it was the oldest one in Formenos still serving customers. It did not take long for Dior to find the first books in the  _ Hunter series _ among the books for teenagers, and then he started to look around for other books he might like. 

 

“Yes! Some of those rare books about the myth of Hades and Persephone that does not portray their relationship as starting by the infamous abduction!”

 

Dior was acting almost like a small child in a candy shop, as he walked around started to choose books to bring home. Based on what he chose, Fëanor could tell that he likely had a personal interest in history and mythology, along with nature. 

 

“Ah, that one named  _ From spring to death; from a Queen to her King _ is actually written by someone we know, so I think that you might like it,” Nerdanel told Dior when she saw Anairë's name on the cover.

 

With how he did not even look at the fashion magazines in the shelves with various kind of daily, weekly and monthly newspapers, it was clear that Dior tried to put a distance between his past and his current life.   

 

Just as Dior thought himself finished and would just grab one last book named  _ How to help wildlife in bad situations caused by humans _ , a young woman happened to reach up for the same book. Well, to be fair she did not seem to be older than a Senior in High school, if Dior could guess her age right, but instead he found himself very much distracted in a different manner; some of her deep golden brown hair had fallen out of her thick braid and brought out the darker colour of her skin along with the black eyes, indirectly hinting to that she might have Silvan lineage in one half of the generation of her parents or grandparents.

 

“Ah...sorry, were you going to take that book?” Dior asked, trying to fight down the feeling of chaos inside his mind, almost like a panic trying to start. He was not exactly used to women so close to his own age after all, since all the female staff at his old home had been past the age of twenty or higher.

 

“No, you can take it. I was only going to write down the title for a friend of mine who likes animals,” she responded sweetly, making Dior struggle even harder to not start blushing. 

 

“Nimloth, are you finished?” a older man called from the opened shop door, and she hurried over to the cash register to get her errand in the bookshop done. 

 

“I am on the way, dad!” 

 

Only when the young woman had left the store, did Nerdanel and Fëanor share a sideway glance in silent agreement: 

 

It was very much possible that Dior just had met a young lady roughly his own age that could turn into his first serious step in the part of life related to love and its related feelings, given how inexperienced he was in the area of romance. 

 

“Dior, are you going to have that book or not?” Fëanor wondered, picking out a science magazine as a legal excuse to walk past his new foster son.  

 

“Ah, yes!” 

 

In his hurry to get to the cash register so he could pay for the books, Dior did not notice the name of the writer for the wildlife writer:  _ Tyelkomo, Nos Feanor  _

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

When they arrived back home, Celebrimbor was seen in the garden, taking in his cell phone. It seemed like his grandparents could read his movement pretty well, given how Nerdanel said: 

 

“Ah, his girlfriend Narvi, if I am reading his face right.”

 

Dior, who had been thinking on the young woman in the bookshop, was brought back to reality by the words and failing to hide a minor scandalous tone as he spoke: 

 

“ **_Girlfriend?!_ ** ”  

 

“Yes, it would be very odd, by the standards of our family history, if he was not in a relationship at his current age. Both Curufin and myself married our wives soon after coming of age and had become a father roughly around our nineteenth birthday. Maglor simply happened to meet and marry Rainiel later in life after that he had started to work. Caranthir have mentioned a possible lady he would like to take out on a date soon, but he can be a bit difficult when it comes to women,” Fëanor commented calmly without looking up from his new magazine about science in the front passenger seat, as if it was something happening in all families.  

 

Again Dior felt just how out of contact he had been with people in his own age because of how sheltered he had been while growing up. Sure, he had started to notice girls over the past two years since entering adolescence, yes, but relationships between servants and those they served was strictly forbidden and so he had been unable to really understand what teenage love actually meant. 

 

“Were you really that young when you married….?” he started to ask in unease, not sure if he wanted to think about it. After all, Thingol and Melian had always talked about how important it was to get married before starting a pregnancy, and they had never hidden their disapproval over that their only grandchild was born out of wedlock, especially after that Luthien had refused to enter a marriage of convenience just to avoid the shame of being a unwed mother. 

 

“More or less a still-living tradition here in the north. No one raises an eyebrow at seeing a young couple in their early twenties being married with a small child and possibly the second one on the way as well. That is how smaller communities have survived in the past, even with modern healthcare and all that which we have access to nowadays,” Nerdanel explained while she parked the car on its normal place. 

 

“Grandpa, grandma, Narvi is coming over here later this afternoon with some of our friends from school. We will plan more about that amateur play we talked about doing this summer,” Celebrimbor called from the lawn after turning around when he saw the car owned by his grandparents.    

 

“Fine by me. Just do not turn your family cottage into a two-person musical disco on the loudest sound level again like last summer when you and Narvi would celebrate that summer holidays had started.”

 

“How was we supposed to know that dad had finished work unusually early that day and was taking a nap in the master bedroom when we started the music in the cellar?! And it was not like Narvi was making too much noise by the thick heels of her dance shoes!” Celebrimbor protested as his grandparents helped Dior to bring out all the bags with what they had brought in the shops earlier that forenoon. From the way Nerdanel rolled her eyes in slight annoyance, this was hardly the first time this argument came up.   

 

“Celebrimbor was not too happy over the fun with his girlfriend being cut short since she was ordered back home to her own family and Curufin was not pleased over being woken up like that. It ended in a argument where our grandson ran off and spent the night as a guest in her house instead so Curufin could calm down in peace before realizing that he was the one to not have sent a message about coming home early that. Our fifth son is not that good at admitting mistakes,” Nerdanel sighed as she walked indoors, Dior following after her with his new books in his arms. He planned to ask Celebrimbor if he could meet those friends of his as well, if they now were almost the same age as him, only one or two years older.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boardshorts are a type of swimwear and casual wear in the form of relatively long (approximately knee length) loose-fitting shorts that are designed to be quick-drying and are generally made from strong and smooth polyester or nylon material 
> 
> In honest lack for a proper and modern surname for the Fëanorian family, I instead chose to use the Quenya name of the House of Fëanor, which is Nos Feanor according to Tolkien Gateway. Tyelkomo is the Quenya mother-name for Celegorm from canon, which he uses as a pseudonym in the books Maedhros helps him to publish


	9. New friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior gets to meet some of Celebrimbor's friends

About a hour from the entrance of Himring national park: 

 

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the underbrush, loud and clear enough to scare away several birds in the trees, and the two thief fisherman hurried up on their feet. Had someone seen them?

 

“Stand still, or you will find yourself with a bullet in your legs!” 

 

Celegorm was helping the local police and park rangers in a trap to catch people who disobeyed the rule about that it was forbidden to fish inside the national park, and today they had managed to catch some of those people. 

 

“Look at this in their bags! Similar fishing lines and hooks to the ones that have injured other wildlife over the past years.” 

 

The wildlife aid center in Formenos at the animal hospital had lost count on how many discarded fishing lines and hooks that had hurt birds over the years, all because of that people was being lazy and not bothering to take those items with them back home. And with the many lakes in Himring, that meant hundreds of cases where birds of different species needed human help to remove the deathly items.  

 

“Thanks a lot for the help, Celegorm. It was a good warning shot.” 

 

“Glad to help. I think they will spend some time behind bars for this, that should teach them a lesson.” 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Dior was half-way through reading a small information book about the most common wildlife here in Himring national park, when Celebrimbor's joyful voice caught his attention: 

 

“Here you all come!”    

 

Several people on bicycles had arrived, two of them on a side-by-side tandem bicycle, and he hurried to hug one person especially. A dark-skinned young woman with surprisingly white-blonde hair, dressed in a light green dress with silver embroidery.

 

“I brought some of my sister's makings as well!” Narvi smiled at her boyfriend, holding up a large fabric bag which held several packages of cream filled muffins from the local bakery, where her younger sister Loki had her first summer job.

 

“That is great, since she wants to be a baker.” 

 

Dior kept his distance, but Celebrimbor had sent a message around to his friends about that the sixteen-year-old was not used to people around his own age, and so they kept to Celebrimbor introduced them to him: 

 

“My girlfriend Narvi, our common friend Telchar, Gwindor who is a old classmate of mine, Fíriel and Faramir…”  

 

All of them were between eighteen and twenty-three, but a shared interest in keeping the old traditions of Formenos alive into the modern age joined them as friends. 

 

“Nimloth could not come, she had a time at the dentist and could not change the time,” Fíriel explained as Celebrimbor placed no less than four different muffins in front of Dior at the outdoor table. 

 

“Remember that you are to add weight on your body, both by eating bigger portions and exercise which will give you more muscles.” 

 

Dior was a bit unsure about eating four muffins in one serving, before his hunger overpowered his logical thinking despite that it was only two hours since lunch and it did not take long before he already had eaten two of them, one with chocolate peppermint cream filling and one with lemon cream filling. 

 

“Told you that Loki's baking will win anyone over,” Narvi smirked at Celebrimbor, elbowing him in the ribs at seeing how quickly Dior devoured the muffins.

 

Soon enough, they came in on the subject of the amateur play Celebrimbor had mentioned earlier. Dior learned that it was mostly planned for fun, and would take inspiration from a local legend of the Mountain daughter, a story about a blacksmith falling in love with the female spirit of a mountain and together fighting to free the spirit of the forest from a human shaman who had been bribed by a greedy mark owner who wanted to deforest a large area of the forest to get more space for his cattle.  

 

“It is mostly a legend, but the native Avari clans here says that there is some truth in it as well. Something like that did once happen in the distant past, and it is the background to why there is a lot of superstition about nature here in the north. Mother nature is not gentle, unlike what many people think, it is the survival of the fittest that is the rule in the animal kingdom.”  

 

“Is that why Celegorm places a hand on the stone over there each morning?” Dior wondered, pointing towards a corner of the backyard where a large rock, looking almost like a rough state of a moose, seemed to be out of place.

 

“Yes, it is said to bring luck for hunters. All the hunters in north have a stone animal like that to bring protection from Mother nature herself. In the past it could be a difference between hunting enough meat to survive the winter and starve to death in the cold weather,” Narvi confirmed as Gwindor looked at his wristwatch. 

 

“I need to borrow the bathroom for a little bit. I will be back.” 

  
  


Once indoors, Gwindor looked for either Nerdanel or Fëanor, because he just wanted someone close. Thankfully, Fëanor had been reading his newspaper in the living room and was near if Gwindor needed help with something in the bathroom. 

 

“Judge Oakenshield ordered that truck driver to pay a  _ juicy _ amount of money in compensation for your injuries in the traffic accident which ended up costing your left hand when the doctors had to amputate the hand, I heard,” Fëanor said as he helped Gwindor spread out a warming ointment over the stump where his left hand once had been, since the muscles in his forearm had cramped up a bit.  

 

Gwindor nodded without a word, letting out a deep breath as the warmth from the ointment helped his muscles to relax. The memories of that traffic accident was still haunting him, even now seventeen months after that it had happened. The truck driver had been drinking too much alcohol that night and despite that Gwindor had been using both a reflective vest and reflectors on the bike as he was on the way home from visiting a friend, he had been hit by the truck near the Great Square in Formenos before several witnesses. The snow piles right beside the road had soften Gwindor's landing, but he still had suffered serious injuries that would limits his ability to work properly. 

 

“Oh yes, he even managed to make the truck company pay a huge compensation or he would ensure that their reputation would turn even worse than what my accident had caused, so even if I can not work that well because of my injuries, I will have a large fund with money to ensure that I at least can afford a home of my own and other basic needs in daily life.” 

 

Judge Thorin “Oakenshield” Durinsson was the name of one of the most famous people here in the north of Valinor, who generally specialized on court cases related to events in Himring national park related to tourists who did not obey the rules there, but still could take on local cases if he found them important enough to have his attention. 

 

“That is good. Only need a nice girl and I think you would be pleased with your life, handicapped or not.” 

 

Gwindor made a point of looking away. He was still young yes, only twenty, but he did not know if a relationship would make him feel better. At least, not yet. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

At the same time, in Barad Eithel: 

 

With so much focus on the case related to suicide of Lúthien Tinúviel, Fingolfin was once again reminded of why he hated journalists, especially those who was only looking for drama. For example, it was rather hard to enter the police station when a crowd of them blocked the entrance and tried to make one of the officers speak about the case.  

 

“I  **_hate_ ** journalists, especially the paparazzi kind!” he complained in a loud voice when he finally managed to get indoors and close the door to block out the journalists, something his co-workers agreed on. 

 

“It is her own fault for choosing to become the top model of her father's company, and her short career as a idol singer also helped to make her face known in media. You did the right thing in choosing Formenos as the new place of living for her son, or he would be hunted by those media wolves.”

 

Small comfort, but it was true. Fingolfin had just seated himself at the desk, when a more welcoming phone called arrive for him; 

 

“Thranduil? What have you and the coroners found out, based on how it looked like when we found Luthien in her home?” 

 

“ _ Confirmed death by overdose of sleeping pills, just as Dior mentioned about that she had to deal with a sleeping problem. I have gone through her private laptop, and it seems like she underwent a lot of stress after Thingol's fatal heart attack two years ago and then the stroke of her mother last autumn. Apparently she was not trained in being the head of the company, finding herself overworked and dealing with things way over her head. _ ” 

 

Fingolfin frowned at hearing that. Surely Thingol must have realized the importance of training his daughter for that duty before he died so suddenly, or had he intended for her to remain only the best model for Doriath Beauty? Then Thranduil caught his attention again: 

 

“ _ I also found something which I think the whole group under your command should look at. It seems like...Doriath Beauty have some nasty habits they had hidden from outsiders until now. _ ” 

 

Great, more work related to this mess. Fingolfin really wished that he had stayed back home with Anairë instead this morning.   __

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Back in Formenos:

 

“A festival to celebrate that Himring have spent 150 years as a national park?” Dior asked, enjoying the last muffins that had a strawberry cream as filling. Celebrimbor had brought out some apple juice to enjoy with the muffins for all of them. 

 

“Yes. It will be held here in Formenos over this weekend, with a lot of people from the local communities also coming. It was agreed to try and make it before all the tourists arriving and possibly causing trouble.”

 

That sounded fun, actually. And with the local police overwatching the festival to quickly remove those who drank a little too much, surely nothing bad would happen.  

 

“My fiancée and her family will likely show up with their horse-drawn carriages, to remind people of how things was in the past,” Faramir smiled, looking at a small photo he had in a chest pocket on his vest. 

 

Soon they had to return home because of various reasons, but they all promised that if Dior wanted, he could help out with the amateur play in some way. 

 

“Not so scary friends of mine, or what do you think?” 

 

In total, Dior thought that it had been a good day, and hopefully the start of something to make his life here in Formenos even better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In canon, Fíriel is a female ancestor of Aragorn, and she was the one who gave the Chieftains of the Dúnedain the claim to the throne of Gondor when both her two brothers and father was killed in battle, based on the Law of Númenor about the royal succession
> 
> Faramir is our familiar one from LOTR in the Third Age Gondor, though here he is younger than in canon to not have a fifteen-year-old age gap between him and Éowyn, so in this AU they are the same age 
> 
> Thranduil as a crime profiler comes from two stories made by my good friend and fellow writer Nuredhel


	10. Tests and Festivals, part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior makes a test day at the wildlife aid center, and the whole family plans for the festival

Dior were much pleased when a letter from the wildlife aid center arrived in the mail, telling him that his application for a summer job had been approved. 

 

“They want me to do a test day now on Friday, to see how much work I can manage to do before getting exhausted, since I thought it was better to be honest about my physical strength are not that good yet.”  

 

Nerdanel agreed on that it was wise with a test day, so he would not be overwhelmed with work already on the first day he helped out.  

 

“Let me see the list on what clothing it is wise to wear….yes, roughly the same style I thought about…” 

 

Dior thankfully had the clothing meant for a such work, and he could use the weekend to get used to his new walking shoes while using his old pair during the test day. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

He was welcomed on the morning of the test day, and was set to help feeding the young fox kits that lived in the center because they were most likely orphans. One of them proved to be pretty feisty as he would set down the food bowl and even tried to nip his hand as thanks. 

 

“Do not worry, she is like that to everyone. It is a good sign that she will stay away from humans once she is old enough to be released into the wild again,” a feminine voice spoke from the hall, but the young woman had already passed when Dior looked around to see who it might be. 

 

Oh well, she must have been in a hurry to get to another room when she spotted him quickly draw away his hand from the fox kit, it was a huge number of wild animals that needed breakfast and even with the help of the summer workers, there was always something needed to be done. 

 

“Dior, can you bring out one of the larger and one of the smaller transportation cages to the front door? There is a phone call about a mother duck who have chosen a bad spot for her nest, the ducklings have been hatched now and the whole family needs to be moved close to one of the rivers.” 

 

“Yes!” 

 

He understood that he was needed at the center, and that the regular staff was the people to get out on the animal rescuers, they were the experienced ones and knew what to do.

 

“There is a adult female fox in the fox sheds who needs some extra food, she was not injured when arriving but very weak and thin, so give her a larger portion with three chickens.” 

 

The local farmers outside Formenos would donate food to the wildlife aid center, small chickens was part of it because too many hens was not good even if they lived in a free range enclosure. Besides, male chickens were not very likely to be of future use unless it was to become a rooster in another poultry flock because they did not lay eggs, unless they were slaughtered for meat. 

 

“It may seem cruel, but I bet that it is also a way to avoid inbreeding between hens and roosters that is close relatives. It would not be good if there was some form of deformity…”

 

Dior tried to not think of it in a white-and-black view, culling had been part of farming since ancient times no matter what people living in modern times might find it cruel and as Amras had told him yesterday after finding Dior watching a documentary about the dairy industry, it would not do well with a milk cow that had inherited a bad temper from the bull siring her, for example. 

 

“Please give some room for me to pass, I have a young one that need medical attention right away.”

 

It was another of the volunteers who came inside, holding a transportation cage with a small fox kit inside. 

  
  


Dior was allowed to be inside the examination room, to see how the vets worked. Beleg was not pleased at all with the wounds on the fox kit, as he examined the large wound on the back. 

 

“This is why Formenos have the rule of not allowing dogs to run free in the areas outside the city unless the dog is a working breed, like a sheep dog or hunting dog. It does not take many moment for a small baby animal like this kit to be bitten by a much larger dog, and the resulting wound is just horrible…” 

 

The wound was leaking puss and dead tissue already present, lots of skin were missing, the remaining skin was dying and with the high risk of a possible infection already in the small body since they could not know exactly when the kit had been bitten, they made the difficult decision to let it fall asleep. 

 

It would not have been fair for the fox kit to suffer though weeks, if not months of treatment on the awful wound and risk that it became too used to humans to the point of losing its needed hunting skills for survival. 

  
  


When the test day was over, Dior felt just how different this would be from his past. Having only managed to research wild animals as part of his homeschooling before, it was a new world to work with them in real life. 

 

“At least it feels like I am finally being useful in some way, instead of being kept away from things that I should be able to do.”

 

It would not take him long to arrive back home since the villa was only fifteen minutes away by using a bicycle, and Celebrimbor had shown up to follow Dior home after a quick errand to the grocery store, since his grandparents had not wanted Dior to be alone. After all, it was only a week since Dior arrived to Formenos and with the unspoken danger of drunk tourists arriving next week, he better be guarded against unpleasant people. 

 

“So, how was it to help out with the wildlife? A bit more messy than what most people expect, I guess.”

 

“It is alright. And I tries to remind myself that if we do not help the animals, be it though recovery or the more harsh way of putting them to sleep, many of them would die a slow, painful death because of injuries or infections.” 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

This evening, Fëanor served salmon burgers with sweet potato fries, lots of side dishes and sauce. It helped that two of his sons were also working in the kitchen, so everything was done in time. 

 

“There is some modern fast-food that we sometimes eat, but it is so troublesome to need to buy much of it because we are so many....” 

 

“Seconds, please,” Dior interrupted, his plate already empty because he was really hungry and it was a few hours since he had eaten his lunch box with a very large serving of a pasta salad with chicken and strawberry-filled mini pancakes as dessert. Ever since he had arrived, the sixteen-year-old had slowly started to allow himself eat more like any other teenger in his age, which Nerdanel and her husband saw as a small victory. 

 

“I would like seconds as well, if there is any left,” Celebrimbor requested, which his grandfather expected to hear after raising seven sons and therefore had made some extra salmon burgers.

  
  


Once everyone in the family had eaten and the dishes had been washed, Fëanor reminded them of the festival during the weekend. Since it was happening over both Saturday and Sunday, with the main festival on Saturday evening, they needed to make a little plan for what to do. 

 

“While I trust that none of you will get in trouble, I still want you to return home before it gets too late, for while there is honest people living in Formenos, there will be others from the neighboring communities and festivals are not always places where people use their common sense.”

 

A lot of the local police and other persons in authority would be present to ensure that nothing happened, for there was a couple of young people they wanted to keep a extra watchful eye on.

  
  


When they watched the children tv program called Ox Tales along with Elrond and Elros, mainly because the humour was something they all could agree on being funny, Nerdanel came over with a large envelope in her hand. 

 

“This arrived today in the mailbox. It is for you, Dior.”

 

“For me?” 

 

Granted, as a foster child he was listed on this address, but he doubted that anyone in the staff from the summer house, his childhood home, had been allowed to know where he had moved after being taken away by the child protective services. At looking at the stamp, he could read “ _ Trial court of Nargothrond _ ” in the small circle if he turned the envelope around. The contents was a cheque, along with a formal note from the members of said court of why it had been sent.

 

“W-what? That….much money?” Dior wondered in disbelief at seeing the exact sum of money he had gotten. Nerdanel looked over Dior's shoulder to see why he seemed so shocked. 

 

“Oh! That must be the compensation money from that idiot with the peanuts on the train! Trust Judge Oakenshield to fix that case quickly and to demand a such high sum for something that could have killed you because of your peanut allergy, he hates when a cases takes unnecessary long time due to the accused acting foolish or as drama queens.” 

 

Something in her words caught Dior's attention. 

 

“Oakenshield? You do not happen to mean  _ Thorin Durinsson _ , the one everyone calls Judge Oakenshield?!” 

 

Something in his manners seemed off, based on how he had acted until now. 

 

“Yes, that is him. How come?” Celegorm asked, stopping in the middle of giving Huan some dog treats from the kitchen. 

 

“My grandfather hates him after losing a court case where Thorin co-worked with the government here in northern Valinor to forbid that no model companies was allowed to have photo sessions with the wild nature as background. It did not help that he...insulted my mother as being good only as  _ eye candy _ for men, which grandfather never forgave.”

 

Most of the present adults in the room or were within earshot made a face at hearing that. Thorin Durinsson was infamous even outside the courtroom for not having the best of social manners around people he found to be snobbish, and Thingol would be a perfect target for that dislike. Fëanor gave his sons a warning look about not telling Dior how Thingol's arrogance had been the main reason to why many secretly had disliked the southern businessman behind his back, and this was not the right time to reveal that to his grandson.  

 

“Your grandfather was the one being wrong, especially if he did not give your mother any useful tasks in the company outside being a fashion model, she was bound to eventually look like only her appearance and singing voice were the most important about her, not any other skills. There is even those who say that she was favored simply because she was the daughter of the chef.”

 

Clearly Dior had not known anything about how to run a business in the fashion industry, for he had a look on his face which told them that this was the first time he ever heard about that. 

 

“Uncle Celegorm, Huan is blocking the tv screen!” 

 

Thankfully, Elros broke the tension in the room with his complaints and they could focus on something else. 

  
  


Still, Dior wanted to know a little more and later that evening, he asked Caranthir who was the most likely to know about that due to working in a trade company here in Formenos. 

 

“While I am rarely involved in the fashion business, it is true that many saw Thingol as favoring your mother as the finest fashion model for Doriath Beauty because she was his own daughter. It is not unheard of that former models from the company to complain about that, and resent your mother for the way your grandfather always focused on her.” 

 

Dior wanted to hit something, since it reminded him of how Thingol and Melian always had dismissed him as a shame for the family by being a illegitimate child, all because his biological father was shot to death by a fanatic fan of Luthien before he could restore Luthien's honor by a “shotgun marriage” in time before her pregnancy would be too visible to hide.  

 

“ _ Damn that old man and his blasted ideals about proper social etiquette…! _ ” 

 

Caranthir showed no surprise over the swearing, he was the one with the most foul mouth at his workplace, after all. 

 

“Watch your fingers, it is harder to work with a bruised hand and the animals would see it as a weak spot to attack,” Caranthir said calmly while finishing his tea.  __

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Saturday forenoon was spent with Dior learning in a rather rough manner that despite that most of them had modern work and was not exactly in the best years of their lifetime age.wise, all seven of Fëanor's sons were still in excellent health. 

 

And very much able of hitting the baseball ball so hard with the bat that the ball went flying way over where it should be. 

 

“For Eru's sake, can none of you ever hit lighter so we do not have to search for the ball in the underbrush?!” Astarë complained after needing to find the ball outside the garden hedge for the third time in less than half a hour. 

 

“We were part of the sports teams back in school because physical health is so important here in Formenos if we shall work in nature, some old habits never really die.” 

 

That comment earned Curufin a almost hit by the ball from his wife, much to the amusement from his brothers. 

 

“Nice try, Curvo, but not the right thing to say at the moment.”   

 

Fëanor took it a little easier when his turn to swing the bat came, since his twin grandsons loved to chase after the ball inside the back yard. 

 

“You are getting old, Dad,” Maedhros joked in good humour, to which his father simply grinned at him.  

 

“I am not old enough for the retirement home for yet another 20 years if I can control my life and health careful.” 

 

Given that Mahtan and his wife Celuwen had just moved into one of several smaller semi-detached houses not far from retirement home to make it easier in their old age, his words carried some unspoken weight.

  
  


Finally it was time for them to go to the festival held in the city center. Since it was early summer and rather warm for the current month, light clothing and sandals was the best choice to wear. 

 

“Alright, no matter who that Elrond and Elros is with during the evening, I want that person to bring them back home at seven thirty so they can prepare for bedtime which is at eight as usual,” Rainiel requested to her large number of in-laws. She and Maglor planned to enjoy a child-free evening and night for once, knowing that his parents or brothers could be trusted with their sons. 

 

“Of course. You can trust on us.” 

 

At the moment, it seemed like Amrod and Amras was the babysitters to keep their young nephews. 

 

“Behave yourselves now during the festival, boys, and I promise to buy you some cotton candy from the candy sellers that is bound to show up today,” Maglor promised, much to the joy of his sons. 

 

The whole family did not plan to stay together all evening, but at least meeting up once for a shared dinner somewhere at the local restaurants.  

 

“Alright, let's have fun today!”

 

Checking over her shoulder so no one had forgotten their bicycle helmet, Nerdanel led them towards the city center. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ox Tales, also known as The Tales of Boes' Gang is an animated television series which ran between 1987-1988 
> 
> A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place.
> 
> The idea of Thorin and Thingol disliking each other is meant as a nod to canon in both the Silmarillion and Hobbit books, where Thingol was murdered by some Dwarven craftsmen both out of mutual greed for the Silmaril and for Thingol's arrogance about the Dwarves not being created by Eru like the Elves, while Thorin lost trust in the Elves of Mirkwood for not helping the Dwarves of Erebor after that Smaug arrived and drove them out out their home. 
> 
> Celuwen is the name on Mahtan's wife which I uses in my stories, since she is unnamed in canon


	11. Tests and Festivals, part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At a festival, a lot of things can happen

When they arrived to the city center, there was already people gathered and small food stalls set up. Music was being played on flutes and drums alongside fiddles, folk music if Dior did not hear wrong. A lot of people was already dancing and enjoying the music, many of them in their 20s-30s. 

 

“Alright, we will meet here at half past five for dinner, so do not stuff yourself full with sweets before that,” Fëanor said before Nerdanel pulled him along among the people to find some old friends of theirs. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

With his parents and uncles leaving for whatever they planned to go, Elrond and Elros sticking with Maedhros, Celebrimbor showed Dior to a place at the side where it was a little calmer, less people. Narvi was already sitting there at a stone bench, dressed in a mint green dress which almost seemed to be an traditional dress design of some kind and with a bottle of alcohol-free cider in one hand. 

 

“Hi there, boys. It is a merry evening, do you not agree?” she smiled as they sat down beside her.

 

“Since it is your first time on a festival like this, I think it is best if you mostly watches at first.”

 

Dior nodded, already feeling that his social anxiety was picking in the back of his head. 

 

“If it so happens that you will stay long enough to start in the high school here, some of the teachers are bound to be here tonight to help the other adults to keep things under control. Like Headmaster Gandalf Grey, for example.”

 

Celebrimbor pointed towards an elderly man with a nice long beard, who was dancing with a woman several decades younger.

 

“And over there is the high school History teacher Balin, alongside the mayor of Formenos, Bilbo Baggins. He taught all of Celebrimbor's uncles and father in the past, so he had no trouble to guess which family this handsome fellow came from.”

 

There was other teachers too, working in different school years and classes. 

 

“It is not only people from Formenos being here for celebrating Himring this weekend, right? Some of the guests have a different way of dressing…”

 

Dior pointed to show what he tried to say, having spotted that some of the clothing on the visitors seemed rather old-fashioned. As much as he disliked his family ties to the fashion industry, he had picked up a few things from it.  

 

“Ah, yes. The locals from the Shire, which is the biggest and finest agricultural community here in northern Valinor. Also known as the most traditional farming society we have left, they live like their ancestors with next to no  industrialisation at all.” 

 

“And then we have a large group of visitors from Erebor as well outside the teachers who works here in Formenos. It seems like Arkenstone Pancakes took the chance to sell their food in the rarely seen food truck of theirs,” a feminine voice spoke up behind them. It turned out to be the same young woman as Dior had seen in the bookstore a few days ago. Today she was dressed in a simple sky-blue midi dress with half sleeves, which only made her even more stunning for Dior. 

 

“Nimloth! How was the visit to the dentist? Same old horror story as we all have suffered though whatever there is a summon, fearing that there is cavities on the way?” Narvi joked at seeing who it was, bidding her fellow female to sit down with the trio.  

 

“It looked fine, I am taking good care of my teeth.”

 

Celebrimbor noticed that Dior seemed to have become tongue-tied with Nimloth so close, since Narvi and himself was focusing on each other as a couple, but that was no surprise given that he had never gotten a chance to be around girls in his own age before coming to Formenos.  

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Maedhros had spotted some of his own old friends from his years in high school, and went over to them after leaving his youngest nephews in the care of Caranthir for a while, Elrond and Elros would only become bored with what they would talk about. 

 

“Azaghâl!”

 

“Maedhros! How are you, old Copper head?” Azaghâl greeted at seeing his close friend, using the nickname Maedhros once had earned due to the colour of his hair. 

 

“Ha, ha, very funny. You will never stop using that nickname for me, huh?” 

 

Both of them was successful writers as chosen career, but where Maedhros focused on information books for young people such as his famed _Hunter series_ under the pseudonym Russandol, Azaghâl was writing adventure books for adults. 

 

Buying some nice beer to drink, they took the chance for some talk since it was a while ago since their last meeting. 

 

“So...Himring already 150 years? Roughly four generations, she is a old girl, that national park.”

 

“At least we have managed to keep the wildlife under control over the past hundred years. Remembering our senior project in high school when we researched about that monster bear Morgoth? I believe that he was shoot more or less fifty years ago this summer.” 

 

“How can anyone who lived in Formenos at the time forget, with how several people was killed by that unnatural huge monster because he found humans to be a easy prey, especially as they were camping close to the mountains? But thankfully there was a brave young hunter who managed to send him back to the arms of mother nature.” 

 

Azaghâl nodded towards Oromë in the distance, where he helped Vána sit more comfortable despite her broken leg which were still plastered. Even if the shooting of the monster bear Morgoth was what Oromë were most famous for, the deed which had seem impossible at one point, the older hunter had never allowing his hunting skills deteriorate over the years beyond his natural aging. Now he was more of a teacher in hunting and shooting for the following generations of hunters who helped the park rangers in Himring, but only a ignorant fool would think that his most famous deed was all due to pure luck. 

  


Meanwhile Elrond and Elros found themselves listening to mayor Bilbo Baggins, as he told the story of Oromë and the monster bear Morgoth. 

 

“As the bear could not be allowed to live because of the high risk of further attacks, a group of very skilled stone workers from Erebor and farm workers from the Shire arrived to help Formenos. Together they built a trapping pit, and once that was finished, the gathered teams of hunters and park rangers entered Himring to find that monstrous bear. I can still recall Oromë from that day, a mere youth who was still in high school, not even seventeen years old if I recall his age right. But that youngster were determined to help the adult hunters, as he feared for those who might be the next victims otherwise. His team was the one to find Morgoth, chasing the bear towards the trapping pit with their firearms through the dense forest. Three of the hunters was mauled during the chase, but Oromë avoided injures thanks to being smooth and fast as a weasel. And when the bear was in the trapping pit…” 

 

Bilbo made a pretend noise from a gun, making a few of the gathered children gasp in excitement. 

 

“ _And shot the monster bear with a well-aimed shot to the head!_ ”

 

Caranthir rolled his eyes, not over the familiar story but from knowing that his twin nephews would only have themselves to blame if they suffered nightmares that night. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

While Narvi was not normally one to play matchmaker, she could see that Nimloth looked like she would like to try talking to Dior. Perhaps even alone?

 

“Would any of you like some mini pancake skewers from the Arkenstone Pancakes food truck?” 

 

“Yes, please,” Nimloth responded at once, while Celebrimbor made a reminder of that they should not get any nuts due to Dior's peanut allergy. Only to find himself dragged along by Narvi towards the food truck where Frerin Durinsson and oldest his sister-son Fíli was kept busy serving those who wanted a rare of their pancakes. 

 

“What are you…”

 

“Let Dior try to speak with Nimloth without you around. He can not be dependant on others for the true meaning of the first steps towards _romance_ ” Narvi whispered as explanation while they took a place in the food queue. 

  


Dior found himself almost on the edge of panic when Celebrimbor and Narvi left. He was not sure if he would manage to say anything identifiable to Nimloth, because he truly had no idea what to say. 

 

“So,” Nimloth started, almost making him jump in fright, ”how do you like Formenos so far? Celebrimbor said that this is only your first week here, but I hope that it does not seem like an fully old-fashioned town in the middle of nowhere. People more used to modern cities are often shocked by the lack of modern buildings, for example, and finds public transport to be lacking when they are more used to buses that arrives and leave very frequently. While the buses here in Formenos only leave once per hour during the weekdays and once every second hour in the weekends.”

 

That caught his ear. 

 

“There is no rush hour here?” 

 

“Almost none at all, people who work here in the city but lives outside, are used to take either the trains or buses to work. The real rush hour happens when tourists tries to find a parking spot and fail to realize that it was not the smartest place due to all the bicycles used by the locals…”  

  


Suddenly there was a sound of a rocket going off somewhere close, and a party tent was actually flying up in the air. The reason revealed itself to be a rocket, which formed itself into a huge bear as it turned around. Many of the onlookers got into a minor panic mood as it came closer to the city and rushed towards the central fountain to grab buckets of water in case one of the wooden houses was set on fire. The police on duty did their best to calm down the crowd. 

 

“Bilbo...Bilbo, watch out for that bear!” 

 

Frodo Baggins, a younger relative of the elderly mayor, tried to push him out of the way for the rocket. As Bilbo was in his 80s, it was only natural that he had hard to hear properly now in old age. 

 

“Bear? Nonsense, no bears have managed to escape the electric fence that encloses Himring since the nightmare summer with Morgoth….!”  

 

Thankfully, the rocket went out in the air well above Formenos, to the the relief of everyone who had feared that it could create a catastrofe. 

  


And headmaster Gandalf Grey had been rather quick to find the culprits in the area where the rocket first had done off. In fact, they had just been talking about getting another rocket when he grabbed them both in a ear. 

 

“ ** _Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. You two have just earned a free ticket to entering the Iron Hills Military academy because this festival was your last chance to avoid doing something which are not merely harmless pranks anymore._ **”

 

Gandalf knew the two high schoolers, a set of cousins hailing from the Shire, to be good-natured but alarming irresponsible in their pranks. This had been dangerously close to actually becoming a crime by hurting others, so they had basically wasted their last chance to show themselves to have become a little more mature during the summer holidays.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can almost call the Hobbits the Amish people of this AU
> 
> And yes, here Morgoth is a name of a brown bear which grew unusual huge in size as a adult and which terrorized Formenos about fifty years ago in a series of attacks on humans who camped inside the national park itself. Oromë managed to shoot the bear after a team of hunters helped to trap the bear in a trapping pit. He is still a local hero in Formenos for that 
> 
> And yes, the movie scene with the dragon rocket was the inspiration for Merry and Pippin getting themselves into massive trouble with local authorities.


	12. Tests and Festivals, part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday evening of the Himring festival comes to an end

Dior had acted as a scared cat at the sudden sound of the rocket not far from them, and Nimloth found herself hugged unexpectedly by the terrified sixteen-year-old. 

 

“Not liking loud noises, right?” she asked calmly, not touching him because she did not know how he might react.     

 

“N-no….” 

 

It took maybe a moment or two for him to realize what he was doing, and he did let go of Nimloth with a such deeply blushing face that she, for a short moment, hoped that he would not faint from shame. In Dior's quickly growing panic-stricken mind, there was no doubt that this likely would look like he was one of those sex-crazed teenage boys the housemaids had complained about when they spoke of their own highschool years.  

 

“I-I am sorry!” 

 

Before Nimloth could ask what was wrong, he turned around.

 

“Dior? Dior, wait!”

 

But despite that he weighted less than he should, Dior proved himself able of running very fast. 

 

“Nimloth, what happened?” Celebrimbor asked, since he and Narvi arrived back after finally getting hold of some mini pancake skewers. 

 

“I think the rocket really frightened Dior because it went off almost right behind us, and seemed to think that his movements made him do some kind of sexual harassment towards me…” she managed to explain, having already raised up to try and Dior in order to explain that it was nothing like that.

 

“Damn! His lack of social skills around those of his own age again….Narvi, hold those mini pancakes for me, please. I need to send a mass messenger to my uncles to keep a eye out for him...” 

 

Celebrimbor muttered other words of foul language under his breath as he quickly texted a messenger and sent to everyone else in the family. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Dior had no idea where he had been running, only focusing on putting as much distance between himself and Nimloth. But when he slowly started to calm down, the teenager realized that he had no idea where he was. The cell phone was in his pocket on the summer jacket, but right now the earlier anxiety had a too strong control of his mind and he even felt sick. 

 

“Dior!”

 

He nearly jumped in fright at the sound of Celegorm calling for him, and then the now familiar shape of Huan showing up. 

 

“Celebrimbor sent a message about you getting a panic attack. Is it too much people at once?” 

 

Celegorm made a point of not asking about Nimloth, his nephew had mentioned it quickly in the message but this was hardly the right time to ask about that. Right now Dior needed help to calm down before it got even worse. 

 

“N-no…it is...it is…!”

 

Then it all became too much, and his already blurry vision became black as Celegorm rushed forwards to prevent that Dior hit his head on the ground. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Thankfully almost all of Celebrimbor's friends lived close to the city center and with Gwindor living in a handicap friendly apartment not far away after getting a phone call about what had happened, he offered Celegorm to bring Dior there for a hour or two to calm down. Nimloth joined them on the way, being worried for Dior. 

 

“I do not see anything strange in how he reacted at the sound from the rocket. You said that he was rather isolated from sociality before coming to Formenos, right?” Nimloth wondered as Gwindor offered some homemade iced tea for his unexpected guests, Dior placed on the bed and now showing signs of waking up again.  

 

“Yes. His birth family had some major issues, and basically hid him away from the world outside the house where he lived. So no, his social skills are not exactly what anyone would call good,” Celegorm confirmed from where he was seated on the sofa. 

 

“Where….” Dior asked at not recognizing the surroundings. 

 

“Gwindor's apartment. No one with common sense would leave a unconscious person lying outdoors. Especially a person who suffered a panic attack right before fainting.” 

 

“I did not have a panic attack!” 

 

Well, Celegorm thought, it seemed that Dior had some well-hidden normal teenage defiance inside him. A good sign, if he just could fix his social anxiety a little more and break away from the very outdated view on relationships between unmarried men and women as Thingol likely had told his grandson.

 

“Dior,” Nimloth spoke up, getting his attention, “you did nothing earlier. That is a normal reaction other people might do if they are scared. For example, I tend to do the same when it is one of those awful horror movies on tv.” 

 

Leaving the two youngsters alone since Gwindor was busy feeding his pet cat, Celegorm borrowed the kitchen to make a quick snack for Dior, a bowl consisting of yogurt topped with a few chopped strawberries and sunflower seeds. It could very well be that his anemia had been part of the reason behind his fainting and that was best treated with food rich in iron. It was also a few hours since lunch, so hunger could have played a role as well. 

 

“Here, you should eat something light. Lack of food is not good.” 

 

Nimloth had also brought the mini pancake skewers originally meant for Dior which Celebrimbor and Narvi had brought, so he could enjoy them as well. 

 

It seemed like the snack and a little talk with Nimloth helped Dior ro relax a little more, especialltý when it turned out that they both would do summer work at the wildlife aid center. Perhaps Dior would lose some of his awkwardness if he met Nimloth more often in a environment where they needed to focus on what they must do with the animals and perhaps one or two dates on their free time. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Soon the whole family and their friends gathered again to eat dinner at the food area of the festival. 

 

One of the local food specials, outside the meat from the large game animals bear, moose and deer, was the salmon of northern Valinor. Dior had chosen a piece of salmon brushed with lemon and honey, and served with spring vegetables. 

 

“It feels nice...to know that it was not anything too bad…” Dior thought, watching how other people enjoyed the food dishes as well. 

 

“Hey, look! The festival cakes are coming!” 

 

The local bakeries in Formenos had worked together all week, to create several large cakes with a theme of Himring;

 

The always snow covered mountain top which was the very symbol of the national park, a forest in summer with trees and smaller wildlife decorations made from sugar paste, an forest floor with mushrooms, a waterfall with a moose about to drink, a tree stump covered with moss and plants, and finally a large cake in the form of a roaring grizzly bear which they sent down on the table in front of Oromë. 

 

“Ha, ha! At least there will be no need for a rifle against this bear since it it is unlikely to react!” the old hunter laughed, and others joined in when they realized the meaning behind the joke. Cutting the first part of the bear cake, it was only natural that he served his wife first. 

  
  


After the food and dessert, mayor Bilbo Baggins held a speech for everyone to hear: 

 

“Now, as all of you have gathered here together for this festival, allow me to once again remind you, the present generations, to always remember how important Himring is for us. It is not just a national park for tourists, but it once was a way for survival here in the cold north, where it was a long distance to travel to the southern cities. So please try and remember how Himring always have helped us survive, in peace and in times of troubles. Honor your ancestors by preserving the national park for future generations, as link between the past, present and future. Thank you.” 

 

After Bilbo, Oromë was the next person to speak. He spoke of how important it was to respect wildlife and not be misled by them being models for more romanized tales or stories where the actual danger of them were removed to suit a younger audience or for those who didn't want to see reality. 

 

“Do not become the next person listed on Himring's growing list over people who disobeyed the rules about wildlife., please.”

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Finally it was time to bring home Elrond and Elros since it was getting closer to their bedtime. Dior chose to follow them home, and Maedhros and Caranthir ensured that all three arrived to the villa without trouble. 

 

With Maedhros taking care of his young nephews, so they would be in bed on time in the cottage where they lived with their parents, that left Caranthir to stay in the villa with Dior. 

 

“I am borrowing my old man's laptop to check on something I ordered on behalf of my work, so if there is anything you need, just call.”

  
  


But Dior did not want to sleep yet. Instead he sent a text message to Nimloth, asking if she could come along on the new the exhibition at the local museum Celegorm had mentioned in passing earlier that evening. Her response was quick: 

 

_ If you feel unsure to just be the two of us, so did Celebrimbor and Narvi also plan to go to the museum tomorrow. We two girls can meet up with you guys sometime over the day. _

 

Well, that sounded promising indeed. Not a date, but a chance to get to know her better with other around. Brushing his teeth, Dior made himself ready for the night and fell asleep rather quickly. 


	13. At the museum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of the past in Formenos is presented to Dior

On Sunday morning, the breakfast was a quiet affair as Fëanor had been up a little longer than what he should, and Nerdanel once again feeling that her already low tolerance for alcohol made itself reminded.  

 

“Well, it was a pleasant evening if you do not count the mess with the rocket around half past four in the afternoon,” she commented with a tired smile, giving her husband his much-needed morning coffee to ensure that he would remain awake. 

 

After a good night's sleep, Dior was actually looking forwards to meeting Nimloth at the museum. Celebrimbor had promised to come along, since he had planned a date with Narvi anyway.

 

“We have done a new exhibition about that monster bear Morgoth fifty years ago, but since it have a fifteen-year limit for visitors, I hope that people will realize that it is not suitable for children, because it will be real photos of the victims shown and a model of Morgoth in real size when you enters that room,” Fëanor explained after bringing back a small map over the museum and its exhibitions for this year. 

 

Dior tried to focus on the half-eaten oatmeal porridge, and added some more strawberry jam on it before more milk.   

 

“I hope that there have not been...other incidents where parents have brought children below the age limit?” 

 

Fëanor snorted. 

 

“The museum have hired two guards to stand at the entrance to the exhibition with Morgoth, and anyone who enters have to show their identity card as proof of not being too young, as it is not unheard of that teenagers who are more mature-looking than their peers might try and cheat.”

 

It took maybe one or two moments before Dior realized that his foster father might be referring to early bloomers among preteens. His own identity card had been fixed during the stay at the group home in Barad Eithel, by police officer Fingolfin Ringil since Luthien never had given him one when she still lived.  

 

“Dior!” Celebrimbor called from the front door, “come on, it is soon time to leave for the museum if we shall manage to get away before Elrond and Elros demands to come along!” 

 

Finishing his breakfast, Dior hurried to brush his teeth and checked so he had everything needed in his waist bag before following Celebrimbor out to the shed with the bicycles. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Nimloth and Narvi was waiting outside the museum entrance. This day, Narvi had a small veil in front of her face, almost the same colour as the scarf around her neck and braided hair.  

 

“Hi boys, let's have some fun together!”

  
  


After paying the ticket for entry, they started with the first exhibition, which was of early history with humankind. 

 

“I did not get to read much about Cuiviénen in my history lessons before, so to actually see it like this for real…”

 

Dior was in wonder to see the various items of stone and other signs of the lives from early humankind. The suggested model of a simple hut was indeed a far cry from the modern world. 

 

“We Silvan once lived a lifestyle that was not too different from those who were alive during Cuiviénen. While we had adjusted to the changing world, it is said that some of our oldest traditions have remained the same no matter what,” Nimloth suddenly spoke, breaking his concentration on reading on the information. 

 

“Ah...you mean….?” 

 

“I am Silvan on my mother side of the family. My father Galathil is descended from one of the children on the  _ Orphan trains _ about 150 years ago, a boy called Elmo, with no information of lineage beyond that point in history. His family have remained here in Formenos ever since, and I am hardly the first one in the family tree to be the result of a marriage with one of the native Silvans here.” 

 

Seeing a chance to explain the full story, Nimloth pulled Dior along to another room with a exhibition that was more close to the present. 

 

“See this list of names on the children arriving on the first train? Here is his name, Elmo, aged four at the arrival to Formenos, from a orphanage in Menegoth City. Parents unknown, found as a newborn on the doorstep by a maid working for the orphanage after that she heard a loud knocking on the front door in the wee hours of dawn. At his arrival, Elmo was adopted by a family here in Formenos and while he was told of his past as a orphan, he is said to never have wanted to find out who his real parents were.” 

 

By reading on the information, Dior learned that the population of Formenos had not been informed at all about the orphan trains because the city was so removed at that point in history, and thus had gotten a massive shock when the self-claimed “charitable institution” more or less dumped the orphans at the train station with only a piece of paper on the neck with the name, age, gender and where the child had been taken from. 

 

“That's barbaric...as if...they treated the children like cattle to be sold to the highest bidder!”

 

He felt a anger building up inside him. Children in orphanages were often indeed orphans and other children who were separated from their biological families for various reasons, but Dior had overheard Thingol rant after too many glasses of wine that had the family lived in a different time period, he would have ordered a servant to dump the newborn Dior at a orphanage so no one would know about Luthien “shaming herself with motherhood out of wedlock”, as Thingol had called it. That kind of talk was only one of many reasons to why Dior would grow up to flat out resent his maternal grandfather, and his grandmother Melian had been no help either, sharing her husband's view on marriage and sexual relationships between unmarried people.

 

“Yeah. It was a huge scandal in Nargothrond and the other major cities when it came out that this “charitable institution” had been in the schools and checked the name lists of the students for “ _ suitable _ ” orphans to more or less steal as they were on the way to school from the orphanages in the mornings. There was many cases where a large group of poor siblings in different ages were forcefully taken from their parents in the slums and separated along the train ride, placed in different families and never seeing their real family again.” 

 

It could be heard in her voice that Nimloth was disgusted by how the innocent children had been treated, all because they belonged to the really poor city parts and had no family to care for them. 

 

“Because the parents did not have access to modern contraceptives and the upper classes felt that the poor reproduced uncontrollably as rabbits,” Narvi added in from behind him, making Dior almost jump in fright at the sound of her voice and Celebrimbor used some slight force to keep his girlfriend's hand inside her handbag, knowing from previous glimpses inside said handbag that she always had a package with condoms in a small pocket if one thing led to another between them.   

 

“What about you, Narvi? Are you also having…?”

 

The white-blonde young woman pointed towards a world map. 

 

“Nope. My family on both sides are immigrants from the Blue Mountains and the Orocarni in Middle-Earth. My paternal grandmother Frigga was orphaned when she found herself in big trouble that would not be good socially, and chose to move to the Orocarni to avoid scandal. Then she and my newly married parents had to escape the social unrest caused by the the end of the main line of the Eastern Sultanate, which died out with Sultan Graim III because he was proven infertile despite medical treatments from good doctors in the best of the hospital and there was no clear successor among his cousins.”

 

Dior made a mental calculation over what he remembered from the historical dates in his old history lessons.   

 

“Graim III...he died only 30 years ago, right?”

 

“Exactly. But my family would rather not return to the Orocarni again. Yes, it is peaceful again since a new Sultan took over as the successor to his cousin and the Eastern Sultanate is facing a blooming welfare for its people no matter which social status at birth, but they have made a good life here in Formenos and no one among the locals have any problems with that we follows the faith of Mahal instead of Eru.”

 

Dior said nothing. He knew that religion could be a very sensitive issue, especially for those who wanted to feel like they were more faithful than others. 

 

“Come. Let's see Morgoth before we finish the visit,” Celebrimbor suggested, getting their attention. 

  
  


Fëanor, it turned out, had  _ not _ been joking about why a age limit on fifteen years and up was needed. When the four youngsters entered the exhibition, they found themselves basically face to face with a roaring grizzly bear standing up on its hind legs, ready for attack. The first impression did not help with a tape recorder playing the sound of a real bear roar.  

 

“ **_AAAAAAH!!_ ** ” 

 

As Dior tripped backwards from the sudden terror, he was caught by Celebrimbor. 

“That is going to be the most likely reaction on visitors here at first seeing how large he was, yes. According to the measurements made on the body after the shooting, Morgoth was nearly four meters tall when standing on the hind legs like the model dies, so he did indeed deserve to be called a monster bear.” 

 

“F-four meters!?” Dior stuttered in shock, looking very pale that was not a result of a possible panic attack or fainting. 

 

“Nearly a whole ton in weight since he was a adult male, being well-fed on prey animals and the humans he had attacked that nightmare summer.” 

 

They spent enough time to see a model of the trapping pit and how deep it had been needed to make the pit in order to prevent that Morgoth could climb up to attack the hunters. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

The tour at the museum was finished with another link to the past. This it was the medieval era. 

 

“The national park shares its name with a ancient fortress at the top of the tallest mountain? That old ruin on this photo?”   

 

“Yes.  _ That _ Himring was the chief fortress of general Nelyafinwë, who broke his service to the King of Tirion after accusations of treason after the time he spent as a prisoner by the enemy. He left Tirion with a lot of loyal soldiers choosing to follow him and came here to northern Valinor to start a new life. By offering protection to the Silvans who already lived here, preventing violence over misunderstanding and encourage his men to start the foundation of Formenos so their own families would live together with their husbands and fathers, he ruled as Lord of Himring until his natural death at the high age of 70, being buried somewhere in the fortress and legend says that if his tomb is disturbed in the eternal rest, a curse will hit those who look for him with greed or other dishonest intentions….ow, Narvi, what did you kick my skin?” Celebrimbor complained, rubbing his hand over where the hit from the toe box on her shoe had landed. 

 

“You left out the  **_more juicy_ ** details about the general, honey,” she smirked behind the veil and Nimloth took over:

 

“While never marrying due to being rejected the princess he once had been betrothed with, he had seven sons with three different Silvan women. The names of those seven brothers, sharing a father, was never known to the historians until that Nelyafinwë had passed away and they wanted to claim his old family heritage from the Kingdom of Tirion. While they were rejected for being illegitimate by formal law, since Nelyafinwë never married any of the mothers, they still managed to marry into various families of lower nobility and landed gentry because by the passing of time, Nelyafinwë was viewed as having been wronged by the king.”

 

In fact, there was a list of the names, in order of birth, that Dior could read: Maitimo, Makalaurë, Tyelkormo, Carnistir, Atarinkë, Ambarussa and Ambarto. Out of the seven´brothers, Maitimo and Makalaurë shared a mother in Nelyafinwë first mistress, Tyelkormo, Carnistir and Atarinkë was the sons of the second one, while Ambarussa and Ambarto was born as twin sons to the third and final lady. 

 

“DNA tests have revealed Celebrimbor's great-grandfather Mahtan as a more or less direct descendant of the third son Tyelkormo through a female line, so there is a joke going around that general Nelyafinwë is still alive though his descendants and that Formenos will be protected spiritually as long as they lives here.” 

 

“Wow….” 

 

Dior wished that Thingol had heard that. His grandfather had always dismissed the historical general as not being grateful to his king for escaping execution if the alleged treason was really true, and basically running away from justice by moving to the uninhabited regions in northern Valinor, so that little detail about having children without ever marrying was a detail that could have shocked Thingol into a heart attack like the one he had died from two years ago. 

  
  


They finished the museum visit with buying some locally made ice-cream from ice-cream shop not far from the museum itself, which was perfect in the early summer heat. Dior especially enjoyed his mint chocolate-flavored one, Nimloth had chosen a raspberry flavor, Narvi a mango ice-cream and Celebrimbor had finished with a blueberry ice-cream. 

 

“Dior, uncle Celegorm mentioned that you had been riding when you were younger, right? He will head for Edoras riding center the day after tomorrow to help adjusting the newest horses to the sound of a gun, which is very important for the pack rangers in Himring since riding is one of the best ways to travel inside the nation park, so if you want to try riding again or just be in the stable, I think that you can come along.” 

 

That was a offer Dior did not refuse, for he had really enjoyed the riding on his pony and been greatly distraught at finding out that he was beginning to outgrow the sweet-tempered mare and Luthien refusing to buy a smaller horse breed which he would not outgrown so fast while being in puberty. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ringil was the name of was the name of the sword of Fingolfin. With it he wounded Morgoth seven times in their famous duel. I thought that it could be a fitting surname for Fingolfin
> 
> In this AU Cuiviénen is meant to be roughly the same as the Stone Age in RL
> 
> The RL Orphan Train Movement was a supervised welfare program that transported orphaned and homeless children from crowded Eastern cities of the United States to foster homes located largely in rural areas of the Midwest. The orphan trains operated between 1854 and 1929, relocating about 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, abused, or homeless children.
> 
> In the canon family tree, Nimloth is the great-granddaughter to Thingol's younger brother Elmo, though in this story he is meant to be a orphan of unknown origins that arrived with the orphan train to Formenos 
> 
> Narvi and her family are meant to be something towards Muslims in this AU, with Mahal as their god like Allah. 
> 
> General Nelyafinwë is meant to be like a human version of canon Maedhros during the First Age, aside from the detail that he lived about 600 years before the in-story present time and had seven children without marrying the mothers


	14. Chaos in the south

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things might be calm in Formenos, but in the south of Valinor there is a different story

Early monday morning, Barad Eithel:      

 

Fingolfin really wanted to be at home in that moment, preferably in bed, claiming a possible cold as reason to not go to work, and be treated to Anairë's hot chocolate which she always made for someone in the family when there was a illness running around to the point of remaining in bed. 

 

“I am not looking forwards to work on this Saturday...not at all…” 

 

The burial of Lúthien Tinúviel. The need to go over all the safety so no one among the few invited guests would be injured, trying to keep civilians away so the funeral car could pass though…    

 

Barad Eithel might be a smaller city, but its closeness to Menegroth City had ensured that Fingolfin and his team of police investigators had became involved with the case.

 

“Bloody woman, just how blind could she have been to the darker side of Doriath Beauty? Or had she known about it and chosen suicide to avoid being brought to justice and risk losing everything?” 

 

What Thranduil had found on her laptop, was only the top of the iceberg of unpleasant business. Bribes to fashion magazines to give good reviews even as Doriath Beauty had not been the most inspiring among new fashion trends, iron hard control of the models to control them 24-7 even when not working, almost downright dangerous diets to ensure that they did not gain weight….

 

Fingolfin was not a expert in the fashion industry, but he knew that many fashion models often suffered from anorexia and similar eating disorders, a result of often trying to remain thin.  

 

“Anairë, dearest wife...I really would love anything else than this mess…” 

 

Like planning that family trip they planned to Formenos this summer, for example, though Fingolfin had a growing feeling that he would not be released from this case anytime soon. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

This Tuesday was one of the best days of his stay in Formenos until now, with Dior being allowed to spend as much time as he wanted around Edoras riding center after borrowing a set of riding clothes in fitting size while Celegorm helped the park rangers to make their new horses used to the sound of a gunshot, since that would be needed when riding around in the national park.

 

“Look at that boy, he is really showing some promise as a rider. Are you really sure that he have not gotten a chance to ride since he did outgrow his old pony as he mentioned?” Théodred, the heir to Edoras riding center, asked to Celegorm as he moved his wheelchair around a corner to the paddock where his cousin Éomer was testing Dior's rusty skills in riding. 

 

“As far as I know, he have had no reason to lie about it. Rather, some of his actions and behavior whatever he mention his birth family hints to that they were a really dysfunctional family when it came to normal social functions.”

 

That was as much as Celegorm could tell, for it would be a breaking of trust between him and Dior if he said anything more. 

 

“Poor boy. I hope that Formenos and Himring will help him heal from the emotional trauma that often results from a such upbringing. Maybe not all of it but some of the worst, at least,” Théodred said in a compassionate voice, watching how Dior did his best to recall how to sit in a saddle. Since this was a real horse and not a pony like in his childhood, some difference had to be felt. 

 

Choosing to change the topic of conversation, Celegorm asked: 

 

“What was the doctor's final say about your left leg after that awful fall you suffered during the World Cup in show jumping last summer?”

 

“I am unlikely to ever be able to sit in a saddle again. Something about that despite the operations, the tendons and muscles in my leg will never heal, especially with how the bone all the way from my foot to the groin was crushed by the weight of Brego. Some really bad nerve damage as well that make me just barely able of having any feeling in my toes, since it took a little time before the grooms managed to get Brego off me, we both landed badly on the side after all.”

 

Théodred was silent for a few moments, as he looked towards the pasture where his own horse Brego grazed off the grass. They would never be seen together as a team in show jumping again because of his ruined leg, and there was a high risk that Brego might be sold in the future as neither Éomer or Éowyn was competition riders like himself. 

 

“However, I am rather alive and crippled, than having my father having to bury me like he had to do with my mother Elfhild after that fatal fall in what was her last race as a jockey.” 

 

He did have a point there, Celegorm recalled how the newspapers had been in speculation that Edoras riding center was cursed to lose both its lady and heir in riding accidents in front of the owner, Théoden Eorl. 

 

“Yes...ah, Dior!” Celegorm half-yelled as something else caught his attention. Despite a sudden sound frightening the horse, Dior just barely managed to remain in the saddle as Éomer tried to take control over the situation again.

 

“Don't panic, the horse will sense your own fear!”   

 

Thankfully nothing bad happened and soon Éomer could keep the riding lesson going again.  

  


Once the riding lesson was over, there was no way that Dior could deny that he was aching in a manner he had not done for years. Especially as he was limping a little, which did not escape Celegorm.  

 

“You will need a warm bath and some soothing salve later, I think, or you will find yourself with muscle soreness tomorrow.” 

 

Dior could only nod in agreement, he would once again be at the wildlife aid center tomorrow and it would not be pleasant to ride his bicycle or walking a lot if he was sore. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

However, over the following days, it seemed that it was not only sore leg muscles that Dior had gotten at Edoras riding center. He found himself not exactly feeling well rested, and lost some of his improved appetite at meals, while also looking a bit absent-minded at times. 

 

“You caught a summer cold from someone at the riding center when you was there, it seems,” Nerdanel confirmed after checking his temperature, when Dior found it impossible to hide his runny nose and sore throat from his foster parents. His eyes was also shining from fever now, showing that it was a rather powerful one. 

 

“I do not want to be ill….” he whispered, pulling another blanket over himself as Dior was shivering as a result of the fever. He had already dressed in more layers of clothing, but his thin body shape did not help much here. 

 

“Better that you suffer the cold now during the early summer, than later when the schools will start again. And you need to rest so you can recover from this, or you will not be able to get that private tour in Himring my third son promised you.”  

 

She had raised seven sons herself and knew how to quickly end any protests from teenagers in situations like this. Anyway, Dior really looked miserable right now, where he once again had to blow his nose in order to breathe a little better.  

 

“Fëanor, can you bring some hot tea with honey? Dior needs it.” 

 

 

On Saturday morning when he was reading the newspaper, Fëanor saw something in the tv programs for the day that made him immediately go out into the living room and actually set up a written note on the tv that the news channel was to **_NOT_ ** be played that day.  

 

“Lúthien's funeral is going to be shown on tv nearly all day and I am not sure if Dior would want to watch it!” 

 

Since most of the brothers and their parents had planned to help Orodreth and his family to move all their belongings into the new apartment today, Celegorm offered to watch Dior since they were not comfortable with the idea of leaving him alone in the villa while being sick.

 

“If he want to be alone, I can still be in another room and be silent so he does not hear or see me.”

 

That was a good agreement, and would also ensure that someone could be quick to help Dior if it was needed. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

In Menegroth City: 

 

The whole funeral was a nightmare for Fingolfin. He hated when it was large crowds like this for the police to keep an eye on, because their behavior could be so unpredictable. 

 

“There now, Rochallor…”

 

This was not the first time he used his private, police-trained gelding in his work, but he hoped that it would not become total chaos.

 

The most annoying, and potential dangerous thing about celebrities was the fans that they got after whatever thing that made them famous. Ignoring her three years as teenage idol singer, Lúthien had been most famous as a model at Doriath Beauty and thus most of her fans was from the fashion world.

 

“Hador! How is it going?” Fingolfin called to his fellow rider and police officer, Hador Lórindol, who was riding not far away on the road.

 

“Praying that this will be over soon, commander!” 

 

It was only midday, and the funeral would not be over yet. Because Thingol already had died two years ago, and Melian being half-paralyzed with speech impediments after her stroke the past autumn, there was no close relatives present in the funeral home since Fingolfin had thought it best to not have Dior around. This was one of the reasons to why he had suggested to send the sixteen-year-old to Formenos to be a foster son to Fëanor and Nerdanel, to avoid his exposure to a world that had not known about him. 

 

“And with so many people from tv and tabloids around, that would have been a disaster!” 

 

Only the other high-ranking staff at Doriath Beauty, who had ranked below Thingol as the owner and director, was there to take farewell of Lúthien. The models, clothing designers and other “low-ranking” staff of the company had not been invited, and Lúthien was rumoured to have kept a distance between them and herself since she was the daughter of the owner. Not that it mattered now, the company was unlikely to keep its high position in the fashion world when the police had found enough evidence of illegal activities that would cause a storm. 

 

“And it would hardly be the first time a old money family here in the south gets caught up in a such scandal because they tries really hard to keep the social status of old times and does not want to admit that in modern times, names and social standing does not hold much power like in the past…” 

 

In the afternoon, Lúthien would be joining her father Thingol in the family grave. And with the current age and state of health of Melian, she would likely be joining her husband and daughter within a few years. A stroke which left a person half-paralyzed to the point of said person had to move to a nursing home, and with speech impediments so they could no longer speak clearly, there was little doubt that Melian would not accept a such life where she was dependent on others for even basic care of herself, especially given that she was a woman from another one of those old money families.  

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Following the written order from his dad, Celegorm did not set on the news channel but instead chose to watch a favorite serie of nature documentaries. Dior was sleeping peacefully on the couch after getting some ice cream earlier, which had helped a little with his sore throat along with some hot tea so he would not feel like he was freezing. 

 

“I hope that the ginger tea will help him…”

 

But half-way through the documentary about the nature life in the Orocarni, Celegorm heard Dior mumble something in his sleep: 

 

“.... _you_ **_were_ ** _the one to go behind my back, mother_ …” 

 

A deep bitterness, hinting to some form of possible betrayal of trust between Lúthien and her only child. But Celegorm did not want to wake up Dior to ask what he might have been dreaming about. It could be a unpleasant memory, possibly related to the last time he had seen his mother alive and if so, the pain might still be too raw. 

 

Instead Celegorm sent a text message to Fingolfin, telling him of that Dior's cold had been surprisingly well timed so the teenager had a legal excuse to not watch the funeral of Lúthien on tv. 

 

“I hope that he will recover soon so we can travel to Himring and show him some basic survival skills in the wild.”

 

It never hurt to know some of those skills, even in this modern world. After all, one day it might prove useful in a bad situation.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eorl the Young was the first King of Rohan and all the recorded Kings of Rohan are his descendants, I thought that in this modern AU, his given name could have became the surname for the family a few generations before Théoden was born, like how I imagine that the Line of Durin have the surname Durinsson after Durin the Deathless as the founder of their family
> 
> Hador Lórindol the founder of the House of Hador which was the Third House of the Edain and a forefather to Tuor and Eärendil though his son Galdor.


	15. The national park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When visiting the National park, Celegorm gives Dior a little bit of history again

Dior did not expect to recover quickly from the cold in just a few days, but he was surprised by getting a few visitors. Celebrimbor had shown up with some rather spicy small breads, which he claimed to be a recipe from Narvi's family, to be eaten whatever someone of them suffered from a cold, and Elrond and Elros tried to bring him ice-cream behind the backs of the adults, to the point that their grandfather had to hide the ice-cream in the cellar freezer instead.

  
  


And on Sunday morning, Nimloth arrived to visit him:         

 

“Hello there, Dior. The furry babies at the wildlife aid center missed you this Friday and Saturday,” Nimloth greeted as she entered his bedroom, Maedhros following with some newly boiled tea since Dior needed to drink again and he had been tasked with watching the teenager in case his fever became worse.   

 

“How can they miss me when I have just started to help out there before I caught the cold?” 

 

She responded by holding a small video camera, where he could see how she had filmed the animal babies during the day.

 

“The fox kits are the same as always, especially that feisty fox girl,” Dior laughed, though it was quickly followed by some coughing. Then Nimloth revealed something else from the bag she had brought along. 

 

“What is this?”   

 

A necklace, no doubt, but one Dior had never seen before. A eight-rayed star, made in what must be silver, hanging from a long strip of dark leather.  

 

“It is the symbol of general Nelyafinwë. My tribe was among the first to accept his friendship and protection, so we still see this star as a sign of that despite different lifestyles, faiths and all that, humans can live together and that those bonds can last beyond a lifetime.” 

 

Dior held up the necklace in one hand for a closer look. Although he was not one to believe in the supernatural, somehow it felt as if it would be a really bad idea to mock that kind of belief now when he was here in Formenos. 

 

“Why a eight-rayed star, though? Normally they are shown with only six rays, right?”

 

Nimloth gladly enlightened him on that: 

 

“It was originally the symbol of his birth family, a old legend of eight smaller realms ruled by its Lords, joining together in a alliance against a shared enemy in war. As proof of the alliance remaining even in peacetime, the Lords ended up marrying into each other families, their lines slowly interweaved over the centuries to form one single line of descent at the time general Nelyafinwë was born.”

 

More history that had never been covered in his history lessons with the private tutor, Dior realized in well hidden sadness. Thankfully, it was hidden by him getting a new coughing attack. 

 

“I will try to come back to the wildlife aid center once I have recovered, but not before that. It would not be fun to hear that the cold have jumped around on everyone there.” 

 

She smiled at him at that comment. 

 

“Indeed.”

 

However, she could not stay all afternoon and had a few errands to fix before the evening, so soon Nimloth left with a promise to tell more of her clan history the next time they saw each other. 

  
  


When Nimloth had left, Maedhros heard Dior call from the guest room: 

 

“Maedhros? Do your parents happen to have any history books about general Nelyafinwë and other events here in Formenos 600 years ago?”

 

The red haired author had to smirk for himself at the request. Dior had no idea what he would find himself with to read. 

 

“Give me ten minutes to find some of the books.” 

  
  


Dior woke up from his brief nap by the sound of Maedhros first knocking and then entering his room. But it was not just one or two history books in different sizes of pages that Maedhros left on the bed table. It was a whole pile of ten books in total, all written by different authors and even some of the history books used in the schools here in Formenos. 

 

“Have fun with learning about my famous ancestor, kid.” 

 

With Dior's shocked face at all the books, it was really regrettable that Maedhros did not have his camera to take a photo. 

 

Dior did not have the energy to read that much yet, but he promised himself to read more when he had recovered from the cold. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

As Thursday arrived, Dior felt well enough to let Celegorm show him the area of the national park closest to the entrance since they were not fully sure of that the cold had left him all together.

 

“A half-day hiking would be too much given the cold you suffered from only a few days ago, so, I think it is best to not walk around that far from the entrance today,” Celegorm said as he drove his jeep towards the parking spot for cars. The park rangers only allowed cars into the national park in emergency situations, like when a ambulance from the local hospital was needed to quickly save someone's life.   

 

“Where have you planned for us to be?”

 

“A nice place where you can see the lake which is closest to the entrance. It is only fifteen minutes walk away.”

 

Out of habit and necessity, Celegorm brought his gun along for protection. There was so many baby animals born at this time of the year and the mothers would not react well on humans coming close. 

  
  


It was a small plateau Celegorm intended, Dior realized when they came closer to the place. Thankfully it was not too high, so he did not feel too drained of energy when they arrived at the top. Nerdanel had sent with them some light snacks, so they could eat before returning to the jeep. 

 

“It is a wonderful view up here.” 

 

A glimpse of two familiar redheads in the distance closer to the mountains though an binoculars, told Celegorm that Amrod and Amras was once again out to find scenes of wildlife as part of their work as nature filmmakers to create nature documentaries. 

 

“Celebrimbor told you about why I always touch that moose stone in the garden, right? Most people in the modern world think that the idea of a spiritual world is just nonsense, but there are things in life that cannot be explained as having a natural reason. In fact, Formenos is actually said to attract people who are strongly drawn to the spiritual world. Perhaps it is because the local Silvan and Avari clans have such faiths in their shamans, or that us locals know better than dismissing anything that could be a sign from natural spirits.” 

 

Celegorm pointed towards the lake. 

 

“It is best avoided to use a boat in that lake, for example, unless it is to help wildlife like birds caught in fishing hooks and fishing lines, for I have personally felt as if there is something trying to trip over a boat from under the surface if you are seated into it. It is rather common to see a set of tourists failing to listen to such warnings and ending up having to swim back to the shore, thanks to their boat suddenly getting a large hole in the bottom and it sinks so fast that the tourists finds themselves more or less sitting in water.” 

 

Dior swallowed down the last piece of his turkey sandwich, he could agree that most people would likely view it as hidden rocks below the surface that was hard to see even in sunny weather, but the way Celegorm spoke of it, told him that the hunter was dead serious. 

 

“Oh right. One legend that survives all the way from when the fortress of Himring was built, is that general Nelyafinwë hated people who would harm innocent people for no reason at all, or for the matter, dismiss the natives as being of lesser status. Like that once, a visiting noble from Tirion was foolish enough to not only make rather racist comments, but also flat out making sexual harassments towards a orphaned, handicapped Silvan boy who his third son Tyelkormo just had taken in as the boy could not fend for himself by being born with a club foot. Tyelkormo is said to have explored in anger at the sight of how his young ward was being treated, and Nelyafinwë did nothing to stop his son from almost beating the noble to death in front of everyone in the great hall, during a big feast. In fact, the general kept on eating and drinking during the beating-up as if it merely was a unplanned entertainment.” 

 

That surely shocked Dior, Celegorm could see it in the widened eyes. 

 

“R-really? _ In front of everyone?! _ ” 

 

Celegorm merely drank some more coffee from a thermos, which he had in his backpack. It was probably unwise to mention that other versions of that legend would imply that the Silvan boy actually was a love-child sired by Tyelkormo in his teenage years and that the third son of Nelyafinwë had reacted as any proper parent likely would at seeing their own child being targeted by a pervert. 

 

“Yes. Nelyafinwë was not fond of the Kingdom of Tirion after what led to his self-made exile here to northern Valinor, and while his seven sons might be called a little bit ferocious by today's standards since the idea of child raising have changed over the centuries, that upbringing also allowed them to become known as skilled soldiers themselves in adulthood. Besides, Nelyafinwë himself would punish people who did similar things to those under his protection, so by his standards, Tyelkormo was merely proving himself as someone able to protect those who could not defend themselves. So from their view, that pervert noble was merely given his just dessert for not being a good guest and also a quick lesson in that the King of Tirion had no power in Formenos, and would not be able to do anything.” 

 

With the teenager so distracted by the tale, Huan had no problem with stealing the remaining piece of bread from Dior and Celegorm scolded the Irish wolfhound as Huan devoured the self-chosen treat. 

 

“And what happened to that noble from Tirion?”

 

“All four limbs broken personally by Tyelkormo with the help of a heavy warhammer after nearly being beaten to death and left in the snow out in the woods to become food for a local wolf pack. Nelyafinwë ensured that the guards was silently killed and sent a letter to Tirion about finding their remains after freezing to death in a snowstorm. 

 

The ruins of Himring could be seen in the binoculars, up there on the tallest mountain top. With some fantasy, it was easy to imagine how it might have looked like during its glory days. 

 

“Um...Celebrimbor said something in the museum, about that Nelyafinwë is buried in the fortress…”

 

Celegorm was not late to answer the unfinished question: 

 

“Anyone who tries to find his tomb, is bound to find themselves chased away by the local Avari and Silvan clans who are guarding the old ruin to ensure that no one are disturbing his last rest. Archaeologists are allowed to dig out the fortress itself to find out its historical secrets, but the tunnels below? Nope, strictly forbidden to enter for outsiders, unless it is a unplanned accident. And it is also said that it is haunted by Nelyafinwë and his soldiers too.”

 

Dior shuddered. 

 

“Sounds like a very good reason to stay away, then. I do not like to be in the dark.” 

 

Finishing their snack and beginning to return back with Huan running around them, Celegorm pointed out other landmarks which they could see from the walking trail. 

 

“The national park is roughly the same size as Nelyafinwë once ruled over as its Lord, so if you compare 400 year old maps with modern ones, you will see how there is very little difference on the borders. 

 

Given how he suddenly wished to find out more from the history books Maedhros had loaned him, Dior already knew how he was going to spend the evening today and likely the whole weekend as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Given that general Nelyafinwë and his seven sons are so important in the history of Formenos as the founders of the city and also bringing in northern Valinor on the map of history, of course there is going to be a lot of various legends and myths about them!


	16. Animals and plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior gets a chance to spend time with Nimloth again

Later that evening, Dior was indeed found in the sofa with one of the history books in front of his face. Given the focus he had on the reading, it would not be the best of ideas to spook him right now.      

 

“Dior, are you even planning to eat dinner with us today?” Maglor called, making the teenager look away from the book for a moment. 

 

“Ah, sorry!”          

  
  


During the dinner, this time a lamb stew with root crops, Dior was a bit absent-minded but thankfully not in a way that could be the cold coming back. So when one of the adults asked, he answered: 

 

“I am trying to catch on what I never was told about in my old history lessons. I only knew general Nelyafinwë as a name in the book about the history related to the Kingdom of Tirion, not how important he actually is to the history here in northern Valinor.”

 

Of course, that could partly be explained that Dior originally was from southern Valinor, and that area had once been some very different Kingdoms with their own famous historical characters. 

 

“Just do not ask what happened to him in the captivity, modern historians and researchers are in agreement that some of his later actions proved that he was suffering deeply from PTSD but there is no way of telling what exactly happened, outside that he clearly had been starved, had scars from possible torture and missed his right hand when he returned to freedom.” 

 

Theories could be offered, but no one would know for sure.

 

“And a very serious case of claustrophobia as well, the outline of his personal chambers in Himring reveals that Nelyafinwë hated small spaces after his captivity,” Caranthir added in, before explaining that while he was no psychologist, he still had chosen to make a analys of Nelyafinwë and how he had changed as a person around the time he had left the Kingdom of Tirion for his new life in northern Valinor, as part of his senior project in high school. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

The next day, a Friday, Dior chose to return to the wildlife aid center because he was tired of staying at home and wanted to at least help out with something. 

 

“Hey, Dior! Jump into the car, I could use a extra pair of hands in freeing a fox kit from being tangled into a football net!” Nimloth called from a car when he arrived on his bicycle. Given that she most likely was a senior in highschool, it was only logical that she would be old enough to have a driving license as a step towards adulthood.   

  
  


It was in a private home, rented out to a relative while the owner was away on holiday, where the fox kit needed to be rescued. 

 

“Good that it is fiesty, that way it will stay away from humans...stop nipping at me, will you?” Nimloth scolded the fox kit, holding it still with her hands in thick leather gloves so Dior could use a small knife to cut up the football net. He had to work carefully, to avoid that the fox kit was injured. 

 

“All four legs are working fine, no injury from the net…he can return straight home if we just carries him outside the garden fence.” 

 

The fox kit clearly knew where he was, for it did dash away like a small red, furry arrow into the bushes not far away.   

 

“Please keep the net away from the lawn if it is not used, or at least two feet up in the air away from the ground so this will not happen again. And you will be the one to pay for a new net unless the owner comes back and find that there is a big hole where we freed the kit,” Nimloth told the person in a perfectly calm yet threatening tone on the way back to the car.   

  
  


As they drove away, a phone call from the center came about a mother duck and her brood that had been spotted on the main road, in pretty big danger from the cars as they had to cross it to get over to the pound. 

 

“Bloody ducks who can not use the tunnels we built to avoid them on the roads and us humans for making it harder for wildlife,” she muttered, but Dior pretended to not have heard the curse word. His foster family had slowly made him less shocked to hear such words, even if they tried to use children-friendly variants around Elrond and Elros because of their young age. 

 

“We have nets and transportation cages in the back, right?” 

 

“Yes.” 

  
  


When arriving to where the duck family had been spotted, Nimloth packed the car straight on the road, blocking other cars from driving past, as well placing out some small wooden signs that read: 

 

**_Duck family to be moved, please be patient and wait with the engine off_ **

 

“I will take the mama duck, I have been doing this since I was old enough to make my first summer work. You take the babies.” 

 

By setting up a long tubular net and the use of removable fences to lead straight to the net, they used slow movements to make the duck family move but not spooking the mother to fly away. If that happened, she was unlikely to get back to her offspring and the ducklings would have to be raised by the center. 

 

“Careful there….and...now!” 

 

Dior managed to push down the opening quickly once the ducklings had followed after their mother.

 

“Good, all of the family is in there, and we can bring them over to the pound once we have packed up here on the road.”

 

Only a few cars from Formenos had arrived during their attempt to catch the duck family, and clearly this likely was not the first time the wildlife aid center must have blocked the road like this with one of their cars, for the drivers was waiting calmly as Nimloth turned the car around to drive towards the nearest pound. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Once the whole duck family of mother and eight ducklings had been released into the pound and they were driving back to the center, did Dior recall something he had planned to ask Celebrimbor but forgotten over the days. 

 

“What kind of studies are it here in Formenos for the high school and college students? I would like to know, even if I am no sure if I will stay long enough to be a student here.”

 

“Most of it is related to the National park, animals and social work, along with more historical professions in order to keep our history alive in this modern work, like that Celebrimbor is intending to become a blacksmith and Narvi burns for becoming a stonemason. For example, most of our park rangers starts their studies here, since Himring offers a perfect environment to test the profession in reality. As for myself, I am studying to become a wildlife rehabilitator at the wildlife center, as I find wildlife cases to be more varied than ordinary pets like cats and dogs.”

 

Taking up his notebook, Dior wrote down what she told him so he would be able to look on the web site for the high school in Formenos later. For the work professions Nimloth had not mentioned, well, surely he could check them on the web side. 

Then his cell phone rang, and Dior had to answer: 

 

“Yes, Celegorm?” 

 

“ _ Hey, Dior. If you have no other plans for the evening, I was thinking of asking if you would like to come along up in the woods at the left side of the national park where the tribes of Silvans and Avari lives. A few old friends of mine there said that there is going to be a storytelling evening tonight, where they gather together to tell stories of the past and old legends. It is the Woodland clan that will have the storytelling this time. _ ”

 

“That is my tribe,” Nimloth commented, without taking her focus off the road. Dior hesitated a little in uncertainty, trying to think of what this could mean. On one hand, it would be a perfect time to learn more about life here in Formenos, yet on the other hand, he was not sure if there might be details he best avoided to learn. 

 

“Yes, I want to come and listen. Shall I stay at the wildlife aid center so you can pick me up later?”

 

Oh well, he had to break free from his past, so why not? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In basically all my stories with Celebrimbor and Narvi as the main characters/interracial lovers/eventually married couple, Narvi is a stonemason because I wanted to figure out how they made the Doors of Durin together in canon, so naturally that is her chosen profession as well in this modern AU
> 
> Given that Nimloth is from Doriath in canon and the Silvans and Avari is meant to be like indigenous peoples of the Americas in this AU, I thought it logical that she might have some chosen work with wildlife as a connection to her culture and inheritage.


	17. Tales from the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This life are not the only one where Dior have been facing difficulties from a early age

Celegorm arrived at the wildlife aid center at at five o'clock in the afternoon. Dior had finished helping to clean up the outdoor shelters for the animals who lived there, like a injured swan and one young goose who had been injured after a bad landing with its family.                        

 

“Since it is my tribe doing the storytelling this time, I will come along to meet my parents and other relatives over the weekend.”  

 

Nimloth climbed into a backseat of the car, petting Huan as she seated herself and set the seat belt in place since Celegorm refused to drive without everyone using it.      

  
  


As Celegorm kept driving to the left side of the National park and then followed a gravel road, Dior tried to look on a map where they would travel. 

 

“So the village lies here?” 

 

He pointed at a a marked spot with the name Woodland village. 

 

“Yes. We always had a main camp there in older times, and eventually it turned into a village where the old, sick and cripples were living permanently because of various reasons. Such as the really old no longer had the ability to follow when it was time to move from one camp to another, those who were crippled badly had trouble to keep their former life-style,” Nimloth explained as she looked over his shoulder to see what he meant. 

 

That was logical, Dior had to agree. Especially in a time period where there had been no modern medications or devices that make life easier. 

 

“Ah, here we are.” 

 

Celegorm packed in the outskirts of the village, so they only needed to walk a little bit. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

The houses in the village were plankhouses, meant to be permanent homes for those who lived there. A bonfire had already been built and lighted in the middle of the village, with logs to sit down on. 

 

“Nimloth! Welcome home!”   

 

Clearly she was a familiar face for those who lived here, if this was her childhood home. Celegorm also seemed to be known among the Silvan tribe, with how people greeted him. Gwindor was seen with a large smoke and silver coloured cat in his lap, petting it as he spoke with someone. 

 

“Oh, you brought a new person as well? Gwindor have a guest as well.”

 

Gwindor, it turned out, had brought along a person Dior recalled from the hospital in Nargothrond. The blonde young woman at his side had to be in her early 20s, possibly in university.

 

“Doctor Orodreth?”

 

The allergy-specialist physician looked up at hearing someone call his name, and smiled at seeing who it was.   

 

“Yes. My family moved here last weekend due to me getting a new job at the local hospital here in Formenos, and all the historical sites here is perfect for my daughter Finduilas here, who studies to become an archaeologist. My wife Calen would have loved to come as well but she sadly caught a cold somewhere and is back home resting in our new apartment.”

 

Celegorm quickly elbowed Dior to prevent him from apologize. It was hardly the teenager's fault that someone from Fëanor's family might have carried the cold over from Dior to Calen without getting the virus too.    

 

Thankfully, the cat Gwindor held, proved itself to be a good distraction by meowing. 

 

“Yes, Faelivrin? What is it?” Gwindor asked kindly, before the cat tried to climb up on his shoulder, the movement revealing it to be wearing a harness and leash. 

 

“Uff! You are no kitten anymore, girl, you are getting heavy….” 

 

Celegorm, who had seen Gwindor in Formenos with the cat before, chose to ask:  

 

“So you got a nice Nordic Forest Cat as therapy cat after the accident?

 

Gwindor nodded, trying to keep the female cat still. Thankfully Huan did not seem to mind the cat, as Celegorm had brought him from a registered breeder who had both dogs and cats in his home. 

  
  


Food had been brought, the kind which could be cooked over the fire itself. Such as stuffed and roasted potatoes, hot dogs, roasted tomatoes, corn dogs, pieces of chicken   

 

“Welcome, everyone, to the weekly night of storytelling,” a smooth voice suddenly spoke up, getting the attention of everyone present and gathered around the bonfire. 

 

“Spiritual leaders Irmo and Námo!” 

 

Nimloth sounded very surprised, yet there was a shown respect in her voice that told Dior about those two must be very important people in the village.

 

“They are the  _ shamans _ of this tribe,” Celegorm whispered to Dior, bowing his head slightly in greeting. Based on how alike they were, the two shamans had to be twin brothers. With their slightly darker skin colour and dark brown hair, their tattoos stood out. Irmo had some white face tattoos that almost seemed cloud shaped, or at least the kind of soft lines that would be used for it, while  Námo had six diamond-shaped tattoos, three under each eye.    

 

“So, you have gathered here for the story telling, right? Then, allow us start this evening with the tale of how the lavender flower was created, and why it is a flower of love here in northern Valinor.” 

 

It was a tale of a mortal maiden, known to become a wise woman among her people and her immortal lover, a prince of the Fair Folk. Instead of it being a mere event of the maiden having a crush on him in young age and then marrying a mortal man as everyone else, the love between her and the immortal prince turned out be for real. The maiden never married, instead becoming a wise woman and remaining faithful for her prince all her life. At the end of her life, the prince of the Fair Folk chose to join her in the afterlife, and his body transforming into the first lavender flower as a sign of their love. 

 

Another tale was of how a daughter from the Moon people had a son with a mortal lover after what basically was a one-night stand simply because she wanted to try a different lover than someone of her own people, but the half-mortal son fell in love with a mortal woman when he visited Earth and refused to return home. In humiliation over his the refusal to obey her wishes, the mother had sent assassins after the mortal woman. Only for the son to take the fatal arrows meant for his pregnant lover when protecting her and dying in her arms, a act which had denounced the mother as murdering her own son. The mortal woman had borne twin sons, becoming great heroes of humankind in adulthood. 

 

“Do you know that your current life may not be the first one for the soul? In the past, you were most likely a different person, for earlier lives affects your current personality and how you reacts on things in your life,” Irmo spoke after a little break, when he had finished the final story, about how the last king of the great isle Númenor and his people had proclaimed the wrath of the gods by refusing to view death as liberation from mortal life and how their desires for immortality had caused the end to their civilization. 

 

“Past lives, as in reincarnation?” Dior wondered, having been silent during the story telling until now. 

 

“Yes. In fact, I can sense a inner turmoil from your soul, with faint traces which undoubtedly is from your past life.” 

 

Irmo took Dior's open hand between his own, following the lines of his palm.

 

“Sadly a long line of past lives where you have not found much joy, I am afraid. Social exclusion is not uncommon, and you have never really grown old, it seems…” 

 

Then Námo spoke up, after laying out a map of the whole of Valinor on the ground in front of him and placing a red stone on one place: 

 

“ **_Early 20th century, a abandoned boy who lived with relatives and died from pneumonia in childhood during a really horrible winter. Late 19th century, a young lady from the upper middle classes, assassinated by drowning to make it seem like you were the mother of the illegitimate child your older sister had been pregnant with, because she was the prettier one, the one more favored by your parents, and to make it appear that you committed suicide in shame over being an unmarried mother. Mid 19th century, one of the newborn children who should have been onboard of the Orphan Trains but died in the orphanage due to being a premature birth. Early 19th century, spent your whole life as a poor peasant woman but blessed with a kind man and children whose descendants are still around._ ** ” 

 

For each past life he mentioned, a new red stone was placed in the south or middle of Valinor. Dior was not the only one around the bonfire to gape in surprise over that information. And Irmo twisted uncomfortably, as if this was not the first time his brother was so blunt about the past life of a guest. 

 

“ _ Not in front of everyone else, Námo…! _ ” 

 

But Dior's curiosity had been aroused. Could the shaman sense his past lives even more, further back in time?

 

“Can you…? I mean…” 

 

Námo only smiled a strange smile, before picking up a new red stone. 

 

“18th century, a priest who personally helped to nurse the ill in a local hospital and dying before the age of 40 due to a outbreak of smallpox. Mid 17th century, an noble daughter born out of wedlock as the result of a affair, married to a much older husband because there was no other suitors for the unwanted daughter with a insignificant dowry, dead in her 20s thanks to a dangerous childbirth. 16th century, a young farmer who chose to move away from the Kingdom of Tirion after a poor harvest several years in a row, and later lived in the mining community of Erebor as one of the farmers who supported the mine workers with food.” 

 

Yet now Námo placed a red stone in northern Valinor on the map. 

 

“Late 15th century, around the time of General Nelyafinwë and his seven sons. A male Silvan, who were caught by unwelcomed colonists not belonging to the followers of Nelyafinwë and sold into slavery to the south. From that point on, your soul have always tried to return to northern Valinor and resented the south without knowing why. Being the less favored daughter in two lifetimes have created a loathing for those who are favored by adults, and desire to be viewed as being worthy of something past a unfortunate birth status.” 

 

Could that explain his relationship with his mother and grandparents? Dior was not really sure if he wanted to believe it to be true, yet something felt strange when he thought about it. 

 

“No, it is time to return home to Formenos before it gets too late. It is soon only a hour left to midnight,” Celegorm said after looking at his wristwatch, Dior remained silent as he followed the hunter and Huna back to the car. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

As Celegorm drove back to Formenos, he noticed that Dior was still not saying a word.   

 

“Námo is...well, modern people would mistake him for having a autistic disorder that is the reason behind poor social skills and his head full of ideas about the world of the supernatural and the dead. But his shamanic skill are real ones, and he can truly read how someone have died in a past life.” 

 

“As long as he is not asked to pry into my current past, I will not mind hearing more of my past lives.”

 

Celegorm took a side glare on the teenager. 

 

“I swear that, if  _ that bloody woman _ was even more of a inappropriate mother for you than what you already have been hinting about in your behavior and body language in different situations, I will ask Námo to curse her soul into living one miserable reincarnation after another!” 

 

Dior was shocked over how Celegorm addressed Lúthien. 

 

“Is that even...possible?”

 

“Irmo is a shaman normally dealing with dreams and visions from the sprítual world, while Námo's speciality is the circle of death and rebirth. You were too distracted by Irmo during the storytelling, but I overheard miss Finduilas actually ask Námo to lay a curse on a stalker who had been unpleasant towards her before her family moved to Formenos last weekend.”

 

Either because of the uneasy feeling in his gut or that he did not want to know, so did Dior not ask about what kind of curse it had been. The teenager felt really tired now, after a long day at the wildlife aid center and then a long evening outside.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If looking at the canon map of Beleriand and where the Noldor had their realms, I imagine that Himring national park is about the same size as all the land the Sons of Fëanor ruled over, gathered together. 
> 
> Gwindor's cat Faelivrin is meant to be based on a Norwegian Forest cat, with Nordic Forest cat being the name of the same breed in-story but hailing from northern Valinor 
> 
> The canon story of Aegnor and Andreth is meant to be the inspiration for the lavender love flower story 
> 
> In this AU Númenor is meant to be equivalent to the Minoan civilization on Crete and how it was ruined by the so called Minoan eruption of Thera during the mid 2nd millennium BCE, between 1642–1540 BCE.


	18. How to gain a curse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some foolish tourists finds out the hard way that dismissing the supernatural is a bad idea

Because they had arrived home so late, Dior and Celegorm slept really late into the Saturday morning.                     

 

“Uncle Celegorm, we have walked Huan for you since he was in need of coming outside!”            

 

No answer, of course, as he slept really deeply today. 

 

Finally, Nerdanel tasked Elrond and Elros to wake their uncle up from outside the window to his bedroom, by using some pot lids to create loud noises.   

 

_ Clang, clang!     _

 

With a groan at his younger nephews waking him up, Celegorm reached after his alarm clock to check what time it was. 

 

“Nearly nine in the morning….?”     

 

That was unusual late for him to sleep in, at least during adulthood. As a teenanger it had not been that strange because puberty generally was a pain in the neck for anyone no matter what gender.   

 

“Alright, thank you for waking me up, boys…” 

 

He needed breakfast and then do something with Huan to make up for oversleeping as he did this morning. 

  
  


Yet when Celegorm took his morning shower and used his home-made soap made from purely natural things to clean himself, he knew that his oversleeping was not only from the later night before. 

 

“Back at Himring again, hm, in her glory days.”  

Námo had confirmed that Celegorm were most likely a current reincarnation of either one of Nelyafinwë's seven sons or possibly one of the followers who had joined their general into exile. Another possibility was another child that, like the infamous sons, were the result of love affairs or marriages with local Silvan or Avari. Those children of mixed blood had not been unheard of in the successive generations, especially as descendants of Nelyafinwë's followers did not have any reason to return to the Kingdom of Tirion where their families originally hailed from. 

 

Still, even now in the morning light, Celegorm could feel the familiar taste and trill of a hunt from his dreams. Indistinct surroundings being passed by in high speed like riding on a horse, but at the same time the feeling of being safe, with people he trusted. And returning home to someone who needed him. Not a lover, but someone he was taking care of…

 

“Uncle, you need to eat your breakfast!” the twins once again called, from the kitchen this time.

 

“I will make some hot oatmeal porridge myself, no need to make anything else than coffee!”

 

Huan had already been served his breakfast, since this was hardly the first time someone else in the family fed the Irish Wolfhound when Celegorm were not on time for it. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Two hours later, Himring national park:      

 

This day, Éomer had the task of leading a riding tour in the national park. One of the strictest rules on Edoras riding center was that the riders had to wear clothes that would not be uncomfortable during the hours spent in a saddle, good shoes and all that. Several water bottles was handed out, to be placed in a small saddle bag in front of the horse saddle. Then some of the tourists found their cell phones taken out of their hands by Éomer and placed in the same saddle bags.  

 

“You are not doing this riding tour to get more likes or comments on social media. I repeat:  **_Do not think that it is fine to treat the horses like they are a motorbike and believe yourself knowing more about horses and riding than myself who have spent my entire life with horses._ ** They are living beings, and you will face a massive debt bill from several people here in Formenos in the form of veterinary costs, hospital costs or other bills that are probably not part of the holiday plan, if you can not respect the rules.”    

 

Just as he finished the very serious threat while glaring at the group of tourists he would guide today, Celegorm and Dior arrived on the last two horses that would be part of the riding tour, Huan keeping himself away from the horses as he had been taught as a puppy. A skilled hunter could be needed, if there was a bear or other huge animal that could mistake the horses as danger for its young offspring. Faramir was the pack ranger that would come along as well, since Éomer did not want to burden Celegorm with half of the the responsibility to keep an eye on the tourists at the back of the group. 

  
  


The riding tour was in a lower area of Himring, with less trees and more of a open landscape. Here they could see some of the more distant lakes, and how the whole national park changed depending on where you was. 

 

“That is the so called Moon Cliff, because you can see the whole national park bathing in the light of the full moon from there. Of course, you need permission from the park rangers to stay there, and never alone due to that there is wild animals in the woods. A alone human would be a easy prey for a adult bear or the wolf packs around,” Celegorm explained as he pointed towards a cliff that was sticking out slightly from the mountain it belonged to. 

 

“ **_Wolves?!_ ** ” a woman exclaimed, looking around as if expecting a such attack to happen right in this very moment. Faramir took the chance to explain: 

 

“Nowhere close to us. They are most often found in the upper parts on the mountains at this time of the year, hunting for food there since they view humans as dangerous.” 

 

Dior had a fair guess why, with a side glare on both the gun in the belt and rifle that Celegorm carried on his back. Faramir had similar set, and even Éomer had a gun. They knew better than not to bring weapons in case of a animal attack, since they either had lived their whole lives here or moved to Formenos in order to work at the national park. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Anyway, Dior soon saw why the local residents viewed tourists from the south as lacking in common sense about real nature; 

 

During a break to let the horses rest, one middle-aged man had to follow the call of nature and ended up seating himself in the middle of a large collection of mature nettles, a teenage girl roughly around his own age complained loudly about the lack of network inside the national park when she tried use social media on her cell phone, an older woman in her 40s did not like that there was no visible animals for her to take photos off like in the zoo. The married couple who were the parents to the teenage girl complained about possible saddle sores, betraying that they were no experienced riders that they previously boasted about. 

 

Éomer looked like he really wanted to dump them all here in the wildness and ride off with all the horses, but refused to risk his job as a guide on the riding tours, and it would not be good for Edoras riding center if one member of the family owning the riding center acted in a such manner either. Faramir shared the displeased face of his future brother-in-law, wishing that he was anywhere else than doing this. Celegorm had to keep Huan on a leash, because one of the tourists had made a fuss about the Irish wolfhound running loose and could not Celegorm act as a responsible owner and keep the mongrel mutt leashed!?

 

“Huan is a purebred dog, and the offspring of some of the finest Irish wolfhounds here in northern Valinor. His sire have been referred as a champion in hunting bears on the autumn hunts for the past seven years and his dam is one of the sweetest hounds I never had the pleasure to see with children,” Celegorm muttered darkly under his breath, offering Huan a dried pig ear as apology for that the hunting dog had to be leashed for now. 

 

But perhaps the most alarming tourists, were a family of three persons; a middle class family with plenty of money, probably because of the man's job, yet the preteen son was horribly obese that Dior for a moment felt as if he was looking straight on what would be a nightmare scene for Luthien, had she been alive and seen that boy, who had to be anywhere between 120 and 160 kg in weight. After all, the slender Luthien had viewed overweight as her worst nightmare because she was proud of being a fashion model and Dior could recall how she at times could freak out at gaining so much as three hectogram in weight. 

 

“That boy is in desperate need of a diet with nearly 100 % of vegetables, zero chances to eat junk food and slimming down by daily exercise, or he will not live a long life. That is a perfect example of why we do not have any fast food restaurants in Formenos,” Celegorm whispered so the mother would not hear and take offense, since she seemed to be the type of mother would would spoil her child with sweets and other non-healthy food simply because she either was too lazy for cooking proper meals or just gave in to demands. And the father only smiled as if his son was acting in a manner to be proud of. 

 

“There are none?” Dior wondered, pretending to check on the hooves of his horse for any stones that could have gotten stuck.

 

“No, for several reasons; the old tradition of beloved family restaurants that have been owned by one family for generations and whose food you know that will be served there, like Arkenstone Pancakes in Erebor. Here in the north, we will not accept food that just saturate us for the moment with empty calories without providing any nutrition from the meal, because we are used to food that keeps us saturated for many hours. Add in a lifestyle that often makes us active during the day, and would also be difficult to keep if we were overweight.” 

 

Dior nodded, recalling how his foster family often used the meat from the game animals that Celegorm himself had shot. And the third son of Fëanor and Nerdanel was a perfect example of why the hunters here in the north needed to be in good shape, otherwise their reaction could be too slow and they would lose a prey or risk their lives. 

 

“ **_By the hunting horns of Béma, NO!!_ ** ” 

 

It was Éomer who had called out all suddenly. The obese boy had gone past what seemed to be a very tall tree trunk, with engraved symbols in the bark, and even been brazen enough to throw a large stone at someone between the bushes. A shout of pain was heard, followed by what sounded like a small water-filled cauldron tipped over a fire. A person who wore a headdress of black and white feathers, and with familiar face tattoos from the storytelling yesterday. 

 

Námo. And he looked really pissed off, for whatever the rude boy just had done, as he started to rant something loudly in a unknown language, shaking a rattling pipe in one hand as he did so. 

 

“Oh no... _ No death curses on us others, please! _ ” Celegorm pleaded in Námo's native language, already dragging Dior along to the horses in order to escape as soon as possible, Éomer and Faramir doing the same with the tourists. The shaman must have been in the middle of a important ritual, and you only invited yourself to be cursed with horrible bad luck if you interrupted a such a ritual. 

 

“No protests! Get back up on the horses, now!” 

 

Námo was not blind for that Éomer, Faramir and Celegorm could not control the tourists, nor did they have to really fear his wrath, but they had all witnessed his power more than once and knew that they better stay away from him when something like this happened. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

The group did not stop before they were nearly back at the entrance to the national park. By then the horses were spent, and the other planned riding tours for the day had to be canceled. 

 

“Bloody Mary...claim that we saw Bloody Mary and her cubs…” Faramir said, Éomer silently nodding in agreement. Officially the reason for the canceled riding tours was the disturbance of a notorious bear female who would not hesitate to defend her cubs against what she could view as danger. She had not killed any humans yet, but she had managed to severely injuring a horse with the rider left in the saddle a few years ago, a event that had led to her name. 

 

“What was so scary about that silly-dressed person? There is nothing to fear from a hippie!” the obese boy complained, earning a few glares from all the local people who worked at Himring national park. 

 

“He will be lucky if he lives to see his next birthday, with a curse on his head…” one of the women in the entry kiosk whispered to her co-worker, they had seen Námo arrive earlier when he had told them of a ritual he intended to in order to bless the coming autumn hunt in a few months and sent a mass message on their cell phones to the park rangers so the shaman would be left alone, but now it seemed to have been in vain. Námo could be cruel, especially when ignorant people disrespected the rituals of his people, and it would not be the first time a foolish tourist were cursed by him. 

 

“Come on, Dior, we have a lunch awaiting us at home,” Celegorm called over his shoulder, and the teenager hurried to follow after him back to the jeep so they could return to Formenos. 

  
  


Later that afternoon, the local radio canal spoke of a car accident on the way out of town. The victims were identified as the middle-class family from the riding tour earlier that day, the parents surviving but to the price of horrible injuries that would make them disabled for the rest of life, and their son dying from his obsession with junk food; a potato chip stuck in his throat so he choked, causing his terrified parents to crash into a tree at seeing what happened to their son in the backseat. A autopsy report later revealed that the boy had been so obese from his unhealthy lifestyle that it was a pure miracle that his heart had not given out sooner, from the strain of all the weight, overfeeding and lack of exercise. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The foolish tourist family and their overweight son is inspired by the Dursley family from Harry Potter


	19. Ties to the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past are always tied with the present

One morning as Fëanor and Nerdanel had just finished breakfast, there was a loud shout of pain from the garden. 

 

“Nelyo!?” 

 

Their firstborn was near the back garden, kneeling on the ground and trying to stop the blood from his bleeding hand.

 

“A adult fox had gotten ensnared in the loose end of the clothes line during the night and one of my leather gloves slipped off as it did not remain still…” 

 

“To the hospital with you, at once! It could have rabies!” a worried Fëanor ordered, pulling Maedhros along to the car. 

 

Celegorm and the other hunters tried to kill any wild animals that showed possible signs of rabies, but there was no guarantee that they managed to shoot everyone. 

  
  


Thankfully, it proved to not be a rabies infected fox that had bitten Maedhros when the doctors took samples, but the bite had still gotten deeply into his hand since the fox had been desperate to be released and there was a risk for future nerve damage since he had been bitten both in the palm and on the back of the hand in the same bite. 

 

“Man, what a bad luck! A good thing that you are ambidextrous at least, Nelyo, and that you had just finished your newest manuscript on your laptop this weekend! Had you been writing for hand, you would have a lot more trouble to get it finished before the deadline!” Caranthir commented when the three family members returned from the hospital and at seeing the bandage on Maedhros' right hand. 

 

“I prefer nerve damage over going crazy from rabies,” Maedhros responded before turning to his mother and asking if she could do him a little favor by sending the finished manus to his editors in Nargothrond from the post office, since he had been forbidden to drive by the doctors for the coming few weeks until that his hand had healed. 

  
  
  


Again Celebrimbor had gathered his friends, this time in the cottage owned by his parents, to try out the amatur play and choose who that would play each role. 

 

“Would you like to try out a role, Dior?” 

 

The sixteen-year-old was not really sure about it, actually. With his social anxiety, he feared that standing on a stage before an audience might not be what he could manage. 

 

“Maybe I can try helping out with the costumes instead?”

 

He did not have that much of a fashion sense, but when he made a rough sketch of suggested clothes for the roles, the others agreed that it was a good idea to take what already was available in the local school drama club. That Formenos had its students gathered in a escalator school, from elementary until university, also ensured that they could hopefully find costumes that did not need much altering and all that. 

 

“My mother can always jump in if there is some sewing needed to be fixed,” Narvi said, referring to that her mother Ala worked as a dressmaker in one of the local fabric shops in Formenos. Even if there was a few modern clothes shops in the city, some people still preferred to have their finest clothes made by a seamstress. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

 

Still, for some reason, Dior seemed to not be in the best of moods the following day. He was not exactly brooding, but it was noticeable with how he had stopped being less reserved around his foster family. He was also holding a old,  slightly worn stuffed toy version of a snowy owl tightly to himself, as if it were a comfort item for him since childhood and he had been unwilling to leave it behind when he entered foster care. 

  
  


Finally in the afternoon, Celegorm made Huan join Dior on the couch to gain the teenager's attention while he seated himself in the armchair. 

 

“Something is bothering you, it is visible as the clouds that promises rain during this evening.” 

 

Dior did not speak at first, and he tried hard to not tremble, as if he was fighting against the emotional need of crying. 

 

“Today is the  **_seventeenth anniversary_ ** of the day when my dad was shot to death at that concert my mother was the star of.” 

 

Oh, that explained his mood. According to his date of birth, Luthien had been nearly four months pregnant with Dior when Beren had been killed by that fanatic fan of Luthien. 

 

“And today….when I saw Celebrimbor with your parents...I came to recall that I have... **_never met my paternal grandparents._ ** I don't even know their names, as mother never mentioned them in the past, or told me to not ask why she had never met them herself and I don't even know whatever they are still alive or dead!” 

 

Now Dior was openly crying, holding the stuffed owl close to his chest, and Celegorm moved closer to him. 

 

“Do you want to either visit his grave, or finding your paternal grandparents?” 

 

Dior had trouble speaking from all the crying, but he nodded in response. 

 

“If you would like, so maybe Fíriel can give a hand in helping. One of her brothers work at a lab where they do DNA tests to look for lost relatives, if you gives her a hair lock from yourself and have her send it, it could be the starting point for the search.” 

 

Dior took a deep breath. 

 

“I have a small medallion with some of my dad's hair in it...mother once got it as proof of that he really intended to marry her…” 

 

Unlike his son, the late Beren Ladros had been golden brown in hair colour, as proved by the miniature painting of him inside the medallion, but there was enough hair with the roots left to make a base for the DNA test. 

  
  


That evening as he would meet Narvi for a date anyway, Celebrimbor handed over a envelope to Fíriel with a request to post it early in the next morning so her brother got it as soon as possible. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

 

Today Dior had chosen to take a big step in freeing himself from the past, namely by make an appointment at one of the local hair salons and cutting his hair so he no longer could be mistaken for a girl with his long hair at first glare. It had happened several times since his arrival to Formenos, and it had not been pleasant when one older teenage boy from the southern cities even had made a rather unmistakable comment that had resulted in Celebrimbor giving the other boy a black eye while Dior first was too shocked to react.

 

His androgynous appearance could not be changed much, but he had slowly started to gain some muscle mass even if it was not that much yet and perhaps things could be different in the future when he was a fully grown adult.  

 

“Around this length, I think…”

 

He had chosen a shoulder-length, for it felt as if cutting his hair into a bob cut style for men would be a little too dramatic in changing himself. Besides, the last time Dior could weakly recall having short hair, was as a really small child before Luthien had insisted on him growing it out to look more similar to her. At that time, he had been happy to do so because he wanted to make her happy, but now as a teenager, it only felt as another one of her attempts to not let him develop his own personality. 

 

“Wow, that looks good on you, actually, Dior,” Nerdanel said when she saw the result. The teenager did agree with his foster mother when he saw himself in the small hand mirror, it was a hairstyle that suited him. 

 

The hair that had been cut off, would be donated to a charity company that created wigs for cancer patients. That way, Dior felt as if he could help unknown people by doing a good deed.  

 

“Well, it is time for my therapy now, right?”  

 

After three evenings of discussions about what it really meant and how it could help him heal from the trauma of his mother's suicide and the unhealthy side of his upbringing, Dior had decided to go to psychotherapy with someone here in Formenos who his foster family warmly recommended: 

 

Nienna Fëanturi, the younger sister of Irmo and Námo. 

 

“I will do a few small errands and then be at the post office when you are done with Nienna.”

 

But Dior waited until that Nerdanel had gone away on her first errand, before he crossed the street to the old but still working payphone. He had more than enough coins to pay for a longer phone call that would not be traced to his cellphone. 

  
  


City of Barad Eithel: 

 

Fingolfin was not happy. Somehow, the whole case related to the suicide of Luthien and the hidden side of Doriath Beauty had run into a dead end. Those among the police who worked with obtaining computer information had found that Luthien at times had been out on a website code-named X, but no matter which password they tried with, they could not open the website.

 

Normally, he would not speak of investigation with people not related to it, but when Dior called unexpectedly in the middle of his coffee break, Fingolfin chose to let the teenager know what had happened. 

 

“ _ You can not open a website mother was out on? _ ”   

 

“No, our expects are blocked, and while we would prefer to not get a hacker involved….”      

 

Then Dior said something on the other side of the line that shocked Fingolfin. 

 

“ **_What?!_ ** No way, no, no, no, he is one of those people that would be totally untrustworthy about the information that we are not supposed to reveal before the trials! Besides, he was sentenced for life in prison without the possibility of pardon four years ago! And how do you happen to know….oh, a rejected suitor to your mother, I see…” 

 

Once Dior had hung up since he had to meet with Nienna Fëanturi for his talking therapy, did Fingolfin feel his headache return in even greater strength. The more his team investigated in order to find enough material to drag Doriath Beauty to trial for multiple offenses against the law, the more it seemed to reveal that either Thingol or Luthien had been involved in unlawful activities. It was a growing nightmare, honestly, and he prayed for that it would not become anything worse right now. 

 

“I hate to admit it...but that man might be our only chance to solve this mystery…” 

 

Finally, he picked up the phone again and dialed the head office number at one of the most notorious prisons in Valinor:

 

Angband Prison, which was far out in the wilderness in the north near the Grinding Ice, where political criminals served their life sentences without the possibility of pardon. 

 

“I need a word with  **_Sauron Barad-dûr_ ** here over the phone, if you can bring him.”  

 

Why in the name of Eru had Dior insisted on Sauron Barad-dûr, a man seemingly honest businessman who had been found guilty of accepting bribery, the selling of counterfeit consumer goods and rum-running that had gone on for at least two decades? Not to mention the fact that Sauron also had proved himself to be a very successful hacker before his arrest and trial, which had led to him being sent to Angband Prison for life due to the high risk that he might had found out political secrets.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladros was a highland region to the northeast of Dorthonion. It was held briefly as a fief by the House of Bëor, but lost to Morgoth in the Dagor Bragollach ("Battle of Sudden Flame").
> 
> I chose Barad-dûr as the surname of Sauron, because Gorthaur was a Sindarin name used of Sauron by the Sindar during the First Age, meaning "Terrible Dread" and it did not sound like a suitable surname, it sounded too harsh, you can say 
> 
> Psychotherapy (psychological therapy or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior and overcome problems in desired ways. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviors, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills.
> 
> With how Luthien and Beren basically kept their relationship secret due to her being a celebrity and not wanting him to be assaulted by her fans, it is unlikely that Beren would have told his parents who his girlfriend actually was


	20. Secrets from the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some hidden secrets comes out in the light of the day

Surprisingly for Fingolfin when he told why he wanted the hacker to give a helping hand, Sauron didn't seem to mind helping in the investigation despite that it would not gain him his freedom.         

 

“Everyone has skeletons in the closet, my good officer, Thingol and Luthien as well. As I worked with Doriath Beauty for over a decade and even was invited by Thingol several times to the summer house in the hope of that she might finally marry a suitor, it wasn't hard to find the Nightingale's little **_cuckoo_ ** to offspring during my visits, especially when the child in question was curious about the rare guests in the summer house and was not hidden fast enough by a maid.”   

 

Fingolfin did not like the implication, if Sauron knew about Dior… 

 

“Relax, officer Ringil, I am not cruel enough to expose a vulnerable child to the vultures that calls themselves reporters but in really is nothing else than those annoying paparazzi. In fact, Thingol originally hired my company to ensure that no one would know about the incoming birth of his grandson after the shooting of the father seventeen years ago, since it was too late to make Luthien have an abortion.”

 

Sauron was not allowed long on the phone, but Fingolfin managed to talk more with the prison warden. After some more talking, they did agree that Sauron would be escorted to Barad Eithel by police helicopter and returned to Angband Prison as quickly as possible. The former business man may keep his word about not trying to escape, but he still had subordinates who managed to escape justice when Sauron himself was arrested for his crimes, and was on the run from the law. 

 

However, Sauron was not planning to quietly be escorted back to the exercise yard where he had been taken, and by elbowing the guard and then the warden in the face, he managed to get hold of the phone. Typing a number very quickly with both thumbs as he wanted to try to get the voice call done before the phone was taken away from him again, Sauron held the phone close to his mouth:  

 

“ _Khamûl, I want you to keep watch on the cuckoo, if you can manage to do that without quitting your current job. Ensure that the vultures does not find out about the nightingale's little secret, if you can. I would also like you to send_ **_that briefcase_ ** _I entrusted you with, the day before my arrest, to Barad Eithel police station so it arrives there in two days._ ” 

 

“Don't think that you can use the phone as you want, bastard!” 

 

The prison warden was unable to track the number Sauron had sent the voice call to, and it did earn him the rest of the day back in his cell and only half the usual food portion at dinner, but Sauron thought the punishment worth his little rule-breaking. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Two days later: 

 

Today was a heavy pourdown that had pretty much banished the normal summer warmth, much to the annoyance of the tourists who would be on riding tours in the national park, and everyone else stayed indoors if they could do that. 

 

“Man, that Emeldir is causing headlines on the newspapers again with her protests against the modern clothing and fashion industry. Some of her fellow protesters were actually arrested by the police this time, in fear of it becoming a riot on the streets.” 

 

Dior had no idea what happened in the south right now, but Caranthir's comment from behind the newspaper named “Weekly news from the South” made him look up from the puzzle he was doing.

 

“Who?” 

 

Oh, right, the teenager would not have been told about a person that made Doriath Beauty look bad in the press. Especially with his maternal family being the owners and director of said fashion company. 

 

“A person that your family most likely would dislike to legendary heights,” Curufin said from the kitchen where he returned to the living room with two cups of strong coffee for Caranthir and himself, “Emeldir Hildor is a older woman who have grown famous over the past two decades thanks to her trying to protest against the globalization of the clothing industry. She always speaks of that it is a waste with clothes if people only buys them to be fashionable, and the clothes being made in other parts of the world before being conveyed by ship or other transportation to Valinor instead of being made locally in order to create new jobs in our own country and that with new fashion trends every year, people in the modern world have basically thrown away the old mentally of “ _wear clothes until that they are worn-out instead of buying new one all the time_ ” that our parents and the generations prior to them grew up with.” 

 

“Now when you mention it...I may have seen her on the news at some point, but mother quickly switched the channel,” Dior commented when he saw a photo of the woman in the newspaper. 

 

Although, for some strange reason, Caranthir could have sworn now when Dior had started to gain weight and were less thin along with getting some nice tan from the sun, it seemed like he was losing some of the visible similarity to Luthien in his face. As if the weight gain and light daily exercise to gain muscles had been the key to perhaps resemble his paternal side of the family tree more. 

 

“Right. Dior, there is a booked time for you at the hospital today around three o'clock in the afternoon. A general health check that will be happening every sixth week for a few months, given your state of health when you entered the foster system.”

 

Dior nodded, recalling how malnourished he had been back then in contrast to now. His anemia had gotten better thanks to his new diet here with his foster family, but he still needed iron pills and they hoped to prevent that he would get osteopenia by the right nutrition, even if he were in the risk zone due to having very little dairy products in his diet before being orphaned. 

  
  


At the hospital, Dior underwent a few health tests to see how his physical health has changed by moving north. 

 

“You have gained….7 kilos since that health check you underwent when you were at the group home for foster children. Your physical health have gotten better, and the gained weight have also allowed you to grow stronger since your body is not set on starvation because of the small portions you were feed before.” 

 

Fëanor got written instructions that Dior would have an ideal weight for his health if he went up approximately 20 kg in total. They would feed feeding him food that was rich in iron to naturally treat his anemia, and lots of milk, cheese and other dairy products to lessen the risk for osteopenia. 

  


On the way back home, Dior got some extra pocket money to buy a large bag of candy from the food store as celebration of the good news that he was adding in weight as he should.  

 

“Oh, you seems to favor chocolate over the gummi candies?” 

 

Dior had taken two Lindt Mint Intense chocolate bars, a small packet of After Eight mint chocolate thins. 

 

“Elrond and Elros promised to share some of their candy with me this weekend, so I will only take chocolate this time.” 

 

That was sweet by his younger grandsons, Fëanor thought, and also noticed that Dior made a point of staying away from the the shelf with black licorice candy. 

 

“Not likening licorice?” 

 

“I think anyone would _detest_ black licorice after getting several pieces forced into your mouth as a toddler, because my grandmother caught a maid in the act of giving me candy, which was forbidden, and I can not even stand the smell of it thanks to that memory.”   

 

Again the very questionable parenting made by Luthien and her parents were hinted, and Fëanor discreetly sent a phone messenger to Nerdanel to ask if she could make Dior's favorite dish tonight.    

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

City of Barad Eithel, same evening: 

 

Fingolfin was surprised to see a briefcase standing on his desk in the office when he came in there. Although Sauron was a expected arrival, as he was escorted in only moments later. 

 

“Ah, good that the briefcase arrived in time. I prefer to use my own stuff, officer Ringil, rather than any of those things that needs updating all the time.” 

 

Sauron picked up a common USB flash drive and a older type of laptop which he connected to Luthien's computer, but refused to let any of them check inside the briefcase, which he held tightly between his legs where he was seated. 

 

“Private stuff inherited from _my late mother,_ gentlemen. Not the kind you would want revealed at a trial where journalists hangs around.” 

 

Anyway, Sauron proved why he had been a such successful hacker in the past, and it did not take long for him to figure out the password to the mysterious web site. 

 

“Alright, officers, I must ask you; The mysterious website first, or what seems to be linked to the finances of Doriath Beauty?” 

 

“The finances, they could prove valuable evidence.” 

 

Sauron did as requested, and even sent a command for the information to be copied at the copy machine. 

 

“W-what?!” 

 

The finances of Doriath Beauty was even worse than what it seemed officially. The company was actually near bankrut, with mentions of fashion shows doing badly, sales of clothing and accessories that went worse than expected, a lack of new models, former models vanishing without a word... 

 

“Hold on, that name on the young woman there...it is the victim of a unsolved murder case five years ago! Originally believed to be a suicide, until the parents mentioned that they had had next to no contact with the daughter at all since she was hired by Doriath Beauty and tests revealed that she had been drugged with a sleeping drug she normally did not use at all!”

 

Sauron did not even seem surprised.  

 

“ **Because Doriath Beauty removes everyone that happens to find anything of their unlawful doings. The dead can not witness, after all, and with the models living in rented apartments owned by the company itself, it is easy for them to overwatch the models by hidden cameras.** ”

 

That was a horrible reveal.

 

“You mean...all those missing models that vanished...might actually have been killed?!” 

 

“Either removed for finding out the unlawful struff, or to ensure that they would not reveal how the models actually is treated. And with a fashion company that only hires teenagers and young adults...those who passes a age limit, have to go so there is places to be filled.” 

 

Fingolfin did really not like the idea of how many possible murders that could have happened without them even knowing about it. 

 

“...and that mysterious website?” 

 

“One moment.”

 

With a click, Sauron revealed what the website had hidden. 

 

“A dating site?” 

 

Several photos of what seemed to be very young people.

 

“Not quite. In fact I happened to find this by pure luck when old Thingol asked me to check over some suspected security flaws.” 

 

Then, as Sauron scrolled down, a photo with a slightly familiar face, only a few years younger, was shown. 

 

“ _Dior?!_ ”

 

The text at the profile, revealed his birthdate, place of residence which was the summer house, and a short mention of that he was illegitimate. And the similar-aged teenage girl which had two red ties to his profile… 

 

_Not given away for closed adoption at birth at the wish of the mother. Intended to marry at coming of age in X number of years, with XXXX, illegitimate daughter of XXXXX family and will live together at his place of residence for the rest of their natural lives._

 

“Welcome, my dear officers, to where the old money families of the south tries to hide any natural children or grandchildren they do not want the world to know about and pairing them together in arranged marriages the moment they are of legal age. They live like prisoners in their own homes simply because they are not born in a legal marriage, and are often born either in a home birth or at a birth center where the midwives will only be able to write up the details in a birth certificate.”

 

Sauron did not sound like he was amused by the content, either. Fingolfin felt like he were about to faint at seeing all the names, so many children and teenagers who were unknown to the world and suffering… 

 

“Right, gotta show you one last thing. About that old Thingol was actually a  hypocrite when it came to his only grandchild.”

 

He pulled out some papers from the briefcase. A birth certificate that revealed that Sauron originally had been named Mairon when he was born forty years ago, a birth and death certificate for his mother, and two different final papers. A paternity test result, and a family tree with close biological relatives. 

 

“ _Before marrying Melian 41 years ago, Thingol sired me on a house maid who was fired after the short affair and he also happens to be the biological father of Daeron von Ciel, that world-famous pianist, by another house maid the year after the marriage. Luthien never knew it when she was alive, but she had two older half-brothers from the wrong side of the blankets._ ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Khamûl is the name of the second most powerful Narzgûl after the Witch-king of Angmar, and they seems fitting for being his subordinates again in a modern world too, especially in the criminal world 
> 
> Hildor was one of the many names among the Elves for the race of Men, meaning "the Followers" or "the Aftercomers". I imagine that Emeldir might not use Ladros as her surname in the media because that would draw attention to her as the mother of Beren, but instead using her maiden-name. In canon Emeldir and her husband Barahir were both of the House of Bëor, but belonging to different branches 
> 
> I think everyone can guess what kind of chocolate that is my favorites in RL?


	21. Finding those who are missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doriath Beauty is brought to ruin thanks to what Sauron revealed at the police, and someone gets good news

 

“You are….Luthien's older half-brother?!”    

 

Sauron had treated himself to a cup of coffee while the police officers had gone through all the information he had unlocked for them.         

 

“Correct. I never felt any sibling love for her, mainly because while she grew up as our shared father's spoiled little princess in luxury without having to think about how much something cost, my own mother struggled to provide for both myself and me on whatever little money she could save from rent, clothing and food costs. The south was not kind to unwed mothers, even if it has become slightly better over the past decades, but despite that she could have given me up for adoption, she refused to do so. She wanted me to not take things for granted, and told me that she prayed everyday for that one day, Doriath Beauty and Thingol Greymantle would fall from grace.”  

 

The former business man made a face at the strong taste of the coffee when he emptied the cup, a far cry from what he had grown used to in Angband Prison. By that reaction, a faint hint to his paternity was revealed, a shared manner with Thingol whatever the late head of the Greymantle family had tasted something he did not like.  

 

“One of the most annoying things with those old-money families is that they still act as if we lives in the 19th century, and that any sexual relationship outside marriage is a scandal that will ruin their daughters' social reputation and chances for a good marriage. By holding on to such outdated morals, they are ruining the lives of any grandchildren that, like young Dior, is born to a unwed mother and not given away for adoption at birth. In Luthien's case, she never visited a psychologist after what happened at that concert, so she was never able to properly heal from that trauma. For her, Dior became the sole thing left by her secret lover and she tried to avoid that he would eventually leave her as well, simply by growing up and eventually wanting to move away from home.” 

 

That naturally had failed, because of something simply known as real life. Dior had not remained a small child forever no matter what Luthien had done, and him entering puberty had forced her to realize that he would become a adult. A adult that would most likely not accept her refusing to let him leave the nest. 

 

“I shall see if I can manage to unlock where the other children and teenagers live, so you can bring them into foster care. I may be a criminal, but I will not allow innocent suffer because of narrow-minded adults that proves themselves to not be the loving relatives they should have been in the first place.”

 

It did not take long for Sauron to unlock the codes and find all the locations of the underage children and teenagers on the website, and Thranduil immediately sent alarm messages to other police stations across Valinor so the adults could be arrested for child neglect, child-selling and other crimes against human rights. Right now that was all they could do, since it was impossible to do it by themselves. 

 

“Some of them should get a little scare when they learns that _Annatar_ revealed the information of the website, since I used to know many of them thanks to my connections though Thingol and that was not one of my nicknames revealed at the trial four years ago. Besides, I have no interest in Doriath Beauty as a new owner, I merely want to bring the company down so their crimes will be uncovered for those who are indirect victims, like the parents of the murdered models.” 

 

Arrest orders on the Board of Directors from Doriath Beauty, since it was impossible for them to not know about the missing models. Other staff members would also have to be brought in for questioning. 

 

Sauron had to be brought back to Angband Prison, but he was allowed to place the papers with his family secret into a safe deposit box inside bank vault meant for the police. If it came out among the media that Sauron was Thingol's illegitimate son, there was a great risk of that he could be blamed for what was about to strike Doriath Beauty. 

 

Yet as he bordered the helicopter for the trip back to the northern prison, Sauron seemed oddly pleased with himself for some reason. 

 

“ _Stealing the amount of money equivalent to two-thirds of Doriath Beauty's annual income was almost laughable easy when I could use unexpected costs such as delayed transport, unexpected accidents at the company and other similar big things as a scapegoat. The company itself will be lost, but I have ensured that my nephew will have some inheritance despite that he will never know that we are related._ ”

 

Sauron had used the stolen money to set up partnership in trusted business for Dior, which had turned into a decent sum during the sixteen years that the investment had been going on, meaning that Dior would not have to worry about student debts or anything similar in adult life. He had never doubted that Thingol intended to disown his grandson and throw him out on the streets as soon as Dior turned 18 and was a legal adult, or that Luthien had planned the arranged marriage to keep controlling her son's life without even thinking of what he might want.

 

However for Sauron, Dior had been innocent of everything wrong that Thingol, Melian and Luthien did, a victim of his family situation, and knowing that he would not be a legal guardian for his nephew with his “hobbies” on the black market, he had instead chosen to at least facilitate Dior's life financially since Doriath Beauty would end up in a unpleasant situation at some point. 

 

“Besides, I think the Board of Directors will end up losing their private fortunes by having to pay all the damages that people will insist on…”

 

Sauron knew that he would be back at Angband around midnight, and he really looked forwards to watch the morning news tomorrow. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

The next morning, Formenos: 

 

“Good morning…” Dior yawned, still dressed in his pyjamas and a little half-asleep. There was nothing strange with his foster parents watching the morning news, but today they seemed oddly focused, with only a absent-minded wave from Fëanor in return as he set on his laptop. 

 

“Maybe something I can ask about later…” 

 

Over the past days, Nerdanel had shown him how to make breakfast by himself since cooking was a skill he needed to learn anyway. Yesterday, Dior had managed to scrambled eggs without burning them for the first time with her only watching him. Today he wanted something else. 

 

“Pancakes are for weekends only, so that I can only do the day after tomorrow. Maybe oatmeal porridge with banana?” 

 

Then there was a shout from the living room: 

 

“ **Doriath Beauty have been involved in** **_WHAT?!_ **”

 

“Talk quietly, Fëanor, do not cause Dior to injury himself because of your raised voice!” 

 

Oh great, what kind of trouble had the fashion company of his late grandfather gotten into now?

  


It was only after breakfast, during a family gathering, as Dior learned what had happened over the night. 

 

“A mass arrest of old-money families in the south? The relatives of the others on that website, right?”

 

His whole foster family stared in disbelief at him. 

 

“...did you not mention it for Fingolfin and the other officers at the beginning because you had no proof?” Curufin finally spoke up, although Astarë ensured that he did not ask any more questions by pressing down her heel on his toes. Her husband could be a little forceful with his words at times. 

 

“ ** _Would anyone have believed me? Instead of misreading it as the incoherent ramblings of a teenager who just had lost his mother and was emotionally in chaos over it?_ **” Dior responded in a almost dead voice, revealing that the whole idea about his arranged marriage must have been a nightmare for him from the very start. At seeing how hard Dior pressed his fingernails into the skin of his opposite arm, Celegorm signaled to Huan to touch the teenager with his nose so Dior got distracted from doing so. 

 

“Somehow, now when I know what happened in some of my past lives...I think my abhorrence of mother trying to control my life might be a instinctive reaction from...how it turned out for me in those lives…” 

 

He could not say any more words, but they did understand his distress. In fact, he was on the edge of crying.  

 

“Please go and rest in your room until that you feels better, I will call the wildlife aid center and telling them that something is preventing you from coming today, you are not in a emotional state to focus much on your tasks today,” Nerdanel requested kindly, seeing how Dior desperately tried to hide how upset he was. Her foster son only nodded in thanks, before leaving the table for his guest room. 

 

“I do not think this day started well for him…” Amras said in a quiet voice. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Dior did not stay all forenoon in his room, after crying for a long time he dressed in his outdoor clothes, checked so his cell phone battery was fully charged and then went out on his bicycle after leaving a note for his foster parents on the dinner table. 

 

He did not intend to stay away from the villa for long, he simply needed some time alone to clean his thoughts. 

 

“I hope that my whole life will not be haunted by the shadow that is my maternal family and their fashion company….it would be pleasant to start things over…” 

 

Just like he already had partly done here in Formenos. Here only his foster family knew about his past, and his life had changed so much since that morning his mother had been found dead in her bed from the overdose of the sleeping pills. 

 

“Hey, Dior!” 

 

It was Narvi who called, standing in front of one of several small bakery and cafes in Formenos. 

 

“Are you in the mood for some freshly baked buns? My little sister is doing them today as part of her summer job!” 

 

Well, it was a invitation he would not refuse, given the recommendation of that he needed to add at least ten more kilos in weight. 

  


Inside the cafe, he was given a seat at the same table as mrs Frigga Asar, Narvi paternal grandmother who had arrived to give support to her youngest grandchild by buying things she had made and bring home for the family to enjoy. Though Frigga allowed herself to take a cup of tea as well before returning home. 

 

“Your maternal family had some parts owned in that fashion company that was mentioned on the morning news? My, what a costly loss that will be, for Doriath Beauty is doomed without rescue now.”

 

Dior said nothing, only focused on the plate in front of him filled with a Sarah Bernhardt cookie, a cardamom bun and a large chicken breast sandwich beside the huge cup of Earl Grey tea he had ordered. 

 

“I only hope that this will be over quickly. For people will grow tired if it, right?” 

 

“Well, there is people who loves scandals, and given what happened to the the last member of the owner's family earlier this summer, there is going to be rumours about her suicide was really her decision to escape justice when this was revealed and the great losses she would face, had she been alive today.”

 

Her reputation, her family wealth, her social standing...and him. Dior could not imagine that his mother would have been able to hide him from Fingolfin and the other police officers, if they had arrived to the summer house in the wee hours of dawn to arrest her. The Greymantle ancestral home in the south of Valinor had already been sold off in a secret sale six years ago, to gain money to cover the cost needed for all the security that would ensure that no one found out about him. Besides, the ancestral home had been in serious need of renovation and had been horribly neglected because the Greymantle family rarely had more than two children ín each generation. Neither Thingol's younger brother or the man's descendants had wanted the house because of how much money it would cost to renovate, and so it had been sold to a new owner. 

 

“Ah, here you were, Dior. Greetings to you three as well, madam Frigga, miss Narvi and miss Loki,” Maglor said at entering the cafe, gaining a greeting in return from the three family members. Taking a seat beside Dior, he picked up some papers from the shoulder bag he was carrying:

 

“If not for how this day started, I had planned to tell you that this week is the deadline for application to one of the courses in our local high school if we want to ensure that you will stay here for longer.” 

 

Realizing that she had to go home before she was late for something else in her plans for the day, Frigga thanked her granddaughters for the pleasant company before she left, and Narvi had a errand to run while Loki returned to her duties in the kitchen. 

 

Maglor made a order of plain black coffee and a coconut macaroon from another waitress as Dior looked over the options he could chose in high school to be the starting ground for his chosen career as a adult. Just as Nimloth had mentioned, most of them were focused on wildlife such the park rangers, the wildlife aid center, vets or animal nurses. Others were social works that was found in Formenos because it was a important part of the services to be found, careers related to history such as guides at the museum and even archeology. 

 

“I think I will choose…”

 

Thinking deeply over his time so far with helping out as a volunteer at the wildlife aid center and how Celegorm had mentioned how important it was to help the wildlife when humans was behind their suffering in some way, Dior marked his choice: 

 

**_Wildlife rehabilitator_ **

 

By choosing that career, Dior wrote up in his notebook that he needed to look deeper into ecology and wildlife biology as part of it, and the small information for the course also told that the students would have one school day each week at the wildlife aid center to see how it really was to do that job. At the question if he had any past experiences about wildlife and knowledge of them, Dior wrote down what he had been doing so far this summer. 

 

“A good choice. You will not regret it, I believe so.” 

 

Once Dior had finished all parts of the application, and their plates and cups were empty, did Maglor take his bicycle towards the school area in Formenos to leave in the papers directly. It was a small meeting today where the high school teachers would look over the numbers of new high school students that would start this autumn and approve their application after a thoughtful check of what their previous schooling had been, especially those who were not locals and would perhaps be newcomers to Formenos, so it was a perfect chance to add in Dior's name among those. 

 

As for Dior, it felt a lot better for him both mentally and emotionally than this morning. A small chance of surroundings could do surprisingly much. 

 

“I better head back home after visiting the library. With how important wildlife is here thanks to the national park, there should be no trouble to find some books that could help me uncover what is needed to know if I will be working with wildlife as a adult.”

 

Just in case, he sent a messenger to Nerdanel that he would borrow a few books at the library and then returning home. She responded with a promise that there would be something tasty awaiting him as lunch today. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

The next evening, in a different part of Formenos:

 

Emeldir had just finished yet another lonely dinner since there was no one else in the house, and after washing the dishes, she looked at the two photos of her deceased husband and son. 

 

“Beren, you really should have given me the name of your girlfriend so I could have gotten in contact with her easier after your sudden death…” 

 

She could still recall that phone messenger from him, that had turned out to be their last contact. Beren had said that thanks to his work as a guard to overwatch places where youth gangs are suspected of being involved in illegal activities, he had gotten a offer to be part of the extra security at the concert where Lúthien Tinúviel would be the main singer. Something about her getting threatening letters from someone desiring to prove himself worthy of her attention and threats of killing any other man that dared to come close. 

 

“Thanks to that psychopath, I lost my only child and possibly my only grandchild as well…” 

 

Even as the grief had threatened to control her life, Emeldir had still tried to find the woman who was her last link to Beren. She knew that the woman had been four months pregnant when the tragedy had happened, for Beren had sent her a handwritten letter on Mother's Day together with a ultrasound image that she would be a grandmother in the autumn. 

 

That very same ultrasound image was also in a photo frame, to give her a reminder to not give up hope. 

 

“It would be so pleasant to finally find my grandchild…”

 

Suddenly, her phone rang and she answered. It was from the DNA research lab where she had left in her hair and blood samples in the hope of finding her grandchild though the help of modern medicine. 

 

“ _Mrs Emeldir Ladros?_ ” 

 

“Yes, it is me. Do you call to tell me if there is any updates? I got your notice last week about that new results would be finished either today or tomorrow.” 

 

She had faced disappointments about negative DNA test before, she could do it again.

 

“ ** _We have a match._ **”

 

The world seemed to stand still for a moment. 

 

“S-sorry, can you repeat that?”

 

She did not dare to believe it, her hands was trembling.

 

“There is a match for you. Someone sent in a DNA request last week, with both personal hairs and hairs that proved to match 100 % with those hairs from your son you sent in several years ago. **_You have a grandson that will turn seventeen years this year._ **” 

 

And Emeldir felt herself break down in tears, seating herself in the sofa before she collapsed down on the floor from the shock.

 

 _A grandson._ She really had a surviving descendant, who she never had met thanks to the horrible death of her son before she met his girlfriend. 

 

“W-was there a chance to know where he lives? My grandson?” 

 

“ _We sent a written result to his foster family as he is in foster care, with your home address in Formenos._ ” 

 

Foster care! Could that explain why she had never found him before now? Had the mother been in economic difficulties, or unable to care for a child, and having no other choice than to give him away? Was he in foster care because he had never found a adoptive family? 

 

So many questions that needed answers. Yet Emeldir felt a small victory build up inside her heart. One endless search for slightly over seventeen years had finally ended. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I chose Greymantle as the surname of Thingol, Melian and Luthien, since that is one of the other names Thingol was called according to Tolkien Gateway. Since Dior was not born to a married couple and is a illegitimate child, I imagine that his surname would be Grey to symbol that he is a mix of the old-money blood from Luthien and the “commoner” blood from Beren 
> 
> Frigga is Narvi's paternal grandmother and Loki her younger sister that shows up in my other Celebrimbor/Narvi stories
> 
> A Sarah Bernhardt cookie is made by an almond macaroon base is topped with silken chocolate filling and then covered in melted chocolate, resulting in a truffle-like cookie with a bit of crunch.


	22. Similarities that are unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior shows some signs of being related to Emeldir without knowing about it

When Dior awoke that morning, he had a strange feeling which felt not exactly like a dream. More like that something important was going to happen soon.

 

“Somehow….I do not know the right words to explain this feeling…” he thought while taking a morning shower and dressing into fresh clothes. Then he gathered all his dirty laundry in the basket and carried it to the laundry room on the other side of the floor. Having raised seven sons themselves and then had a number of foster children in their care over the years, his foster parents had a fixed list of clothes that could be washed together, what grades on the laundry program to use and everything else that would have otherwise confused him. 

 

“Most of my clothes are mixed colors….so it is this program to use…” 

 

It felt good to train on everyday skills that he would need as a adult, something Nerdanel and Fëanor had pointed out already the first week as he had been in their care since Dior would be a legal adult in less than two years. After all, it was not unusual anymore that young adults lived alone in their own homes and thus they had to know basic skills like cooking, cleaning, paying bills or rent and laundry. 

 

“Alright, a big portion of yogurt and muesli together with some open sandwiches and tea, and then I should be done.”

 

In fact, a small part of Dior was surprised by how much he could eat nowadays. But as his foster parents had explained, puberty were a time where the whole body changed and they was well familiar with how much a teenage boy could eat after raising seven sons. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Today Dior followed Celegorm to the animal hospital for a medical examination. As a hunting dog, it was extra important that Huan was in good health, since illness or some minor injury could affect him when they were out in the woods. 

 

“You are taking great care of him as usual, Celegorm. After all, Huan have never once been at risk for overweight thanks to having a good owner.” 

 

Huan was four years old now, so it was easy to say that he was in his prime. Since there was no signs of illness or anything else, the vet gave him a green card for taking part of the autumn hunts this year as well.  

  
  


As they walked over to the pet store to buy more dog food for Huan since it was next-door to the animal hospital, they came to talk about what Dior had chosen for his studies in high school. 

 

“You made a good choice because here in northern Valinor, there is a lot more wildlife than in the south,” Celegorm said, and Dior did agreed when he recalled the map of northern Valinor. After Formenos and a few scattered villages, there was basically an endless wildness all the way up to the Grinding Ice, so there had once been a reason to why Formenos in the past had been claimed as the “end of civilization” by those who was living in the south. 

 

“Right, the weekend after next, there is going to be a annual historical fair, where we locals dress up like in old times and sells food and other stuff that people used before the modern age. Since general Nelyafinwë founded Formenos at the end of the medieval era 600 years ago, there is going to be some historical reenactment as well.” 

 

That sounded fun, Dior thought, especially when Celegorm also mentioned that this weekend was going to be the final shots of a locally made documentary about general Nelyafinwë and his sons. 

 

“You played the adult Tyelkormo in one of the scenes?” 

 

“Yeah, according to what is known about him, he took after his paternal grandmother by inheriting her ash blonde hair colour and was a very skilled hunter outside his skills as a hunter, so I only needed to dress up in late 15th clothes, use a ash blonde wig over my own hair, add on some makeup to have my face look closer to the native Silvans in skin color and I was ready to act in front of the camera.”   

 

Celegorm also told Dior that Tyelkormo had never really liked life in the south despite joining his brothers in trying to be legal heirs of their father despite that they, according to the laws, were born out of wedlock as Nelyafinwë had never married any of the three mothers to his sons, and despite marrying a wife from a landed gentry family, Tyelkormo had returned to northern Valinor with his two young daughters after that he and his wife had underwent a divorce, which had been a huge scandal. 

 

“His wife was proud of her lineage despite not being nobility, but from what is known of their marriage though the life-long diary of his oldest brother Maitimo, she saw Tyelkormo as uncouth once she started to live with him everyday after the wedding and hated that her father had married her to someone she saw as ill-bred.” 

 

Dior had a worry feeling about that, as they loaded the big bags of dog food into the jeep. 

 

“Because his mother was Silvan and he had not been brought up in the south?”

 

“Partly that, and because once she had given birth to her second daughter, she wanted to... **_taste_ ** what it felt to be with a different man.”

 

Adultery. Dior knew that to be a legal reason for divorce in historical times, especially if the wife became pregnant with a child that might not be sired by her husband. 

 

“His two daughters from that marriage ended up being two of the first settlers in what would become Nargothrond, from where my grandfather Mahtan hails from though his mother, and since Tyelkormo never married again, he had several children out of wedlock over his life. It is even rumoured that one descendant of his oldest daughter married into the House of Bëor sometime after that they chose abdication over risking a massive revolution.” 

 

Dior checked in his pocket history again, feeling that the name sounded familiar. Yes, the House of Bëor had been the royal family of the Kingdom of Tirion from the beginning of the 16th century to mid 18th century, taking over after the royal house of Ondolindë. 

 

“King Beren I was the one to sign the abdication and the family slowly faded from history as they chose a modest life afterwards...I wonder if my dad was named after him?” Dior wondered, knowing that it was not unheard of that royals could make some names popular.  

  
  


Then, as they started to drive back home, Celegorm had to answer his cell phone in case it was a important call. He quickly parked at the street again, so he was not driving with one hand. 

 

“Yes...oh no, he broke his shoulder from that stunt?” 

 

The teenage boy would play a young Tyelkormo in the last scenes to be filmed, had seriously hurt himself in an attempt to impress a girl he liked. Worse, the film team had no back-up amatur actor who looked similar enough in body build and length. 

 

“Aw, man...you had hoped to finish it this weekend and have the documentary fixed in time for the historical fair, right? Is there anything I might help with?” the hunter asked, before suddenly throwing a side glare on Dior who had just given Huan a treat his shoulder, “hold on for a moment, I will call you back.” 

 

He finished the phone call, and then looked properly at the teenager. 

 

“Is there any trouble?” 

 

“Not really, but….I know that you do not like the idea of being shown on social media and such, due to everything that could happen if someone realizes who your face looks like, but...would you like to help out in that scene by playing the teenage Tyelkormo, if the camera only shows you from behind or from an angle that does not show your face directly? A wig and makeup could also help masking yourself.”

 

This request was really unexpected, but since that documentary sounded interesting, Dior agreed to at least test the scene. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

It was several people from the museum, with a hobby of historical reenactment, that had been used as amatur actors in the documentary. 

 

“Celegorm? What are you doing here?” Amras asked in surprise when he spotted the jeep owned by his older brother, he and Amrod was helping out with the filming, thanks to their job as nature filmmakers. 

 

“I suggest that Dior helps out, if we can find a angle where we do not see his face.” 

 

The fim team was overjoyed over that Dior had offered to help, and he did not need long time in the makeup tent, only a bronze makeup to darken his skin tone slightly, a few false scars in the face to highlight that Tyelkormo had the reputation for being the most savage one of Nelyafinwë's seven sons, and a ash blonde wig that was pretty much a messy half-up ponytail and smaller braids on the sides. 

 

“Alright, the scene was that Tyelkormo is kneeling on the edge of this small stream for cupping his hands into the water and drinking. It is meant to show that out of the seven brothers, he is the one most likely to be found living in the wild.” 

 

They even had brought some fresh meat pieces from another hunter and built a small camping fire beside a simple camp to make the scene as historically accurate as possible. 

 

“If we are careless and make things wrong in filming, mrs Ladros will have our heads.” 

 

Apparently the head historian at the museum in Formenos originally been planning to be there with the filming team, but had been prevented in the form of a health examination at the hospital. 

 

“She is not called the Manhearted for nothing, and while the southerners knows her best as a protester against the modern fashion industry, she is very skilled reenactor when it comes to famous historical women, and not only the rich.” 

 

They needed to make several shots to pick out the best one for the short scene with the young Tyelkormo, so for each one of the shots, Dior tried something slightly different in his movements or set up a kettle with water or that they tried a different angle. 

 

However, during the eight shot, something unplanned happened. Dior looked up at a strange sound above him from one of the trees, and then had to quickly hold out his hands to prevent a small juvenile barn owl from falling in the water. By quickly setting it down on a woolen cloak, Dior gently grasped the owl from behind so that his thumbs did lie together on its back up its spine, his fingers fully encircled its folded wings and its legs extend outwards between his fingers. Thanks to that he had been wearing leather gloves, he could avoid the talons causing a injury. 

 

“Aw, did you crash into a branch, sweetie?” Dior asked in a quiet voice, feeling relief when the owl proved itself alert and made a long drawn-out defensive hiss. It did not seem injured from a concussion, merely annoyed by that it had not managed to steal a piece of the raw meat that Dior had planned to add into the kettle with boiling water over the fire. As it was allowed to fly away, Dior even smiled faintly, something which seemed to transform the makeup-scarred face and the film team made a silent agreement to use this shot in the finished documentary. It was well known that ignorant people would often imagine Tyelkormo as a savage simply because he did not have the best reputation in history books because of various events where he had been involved like the whole thing with his infamous marriage, so this shot of Dior would perhaps help showing that there had been a different side of the famed hunter. 

  
  


Finally, the whole shooting was over. It had taken some hours, so Celegorm told Dior to wash off the makeup and change back into his normal clothes so they could eat lunch at one of the restaurants at the city center. 

 

“Here, a little treat for helping us in a crisis situation.”

 

It was a egg-shaped candy box, the kind they sold at Easter time. Maybe it had been taken simply because it would be a waste to throw it away when all its original candy had been eaten.

 

“Thank you...oh.”

 

Since Dior still wore the makeup, his face looked a bit funny when he tried not to make a grimace at seeing what most of the candy was. 

 

“ **_I don't like licorice,_ ** ” Dior managed to say in a polite manner, pushing the candy box away. It seemed to be a mistake, which was only found out now, based on the horrified reactions on the film team. 

 

“Who brought this amount of licorice!? You all know how mrs Emeldir  **_hates_ ** that stuff! Get rid of it before she arrives!” 

 

It did not take long for Dior to wash off the makeup, and Celegorm drove away with the jeep just as said mrs Emeldir arrived from the opposite side of the road. She was happy to hear that they had managed to fix the scene shot thanks to Celegorm, but far less pleased at seeing the licorice. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Celegorm drove to one of the three restaurants in Formenos that had its cuisine originally from the Orocarni. They had been created for those in the city who followed the faith of Mahal, especially when Formenos had welcomed many refugees from the Eastern Sultanate 30 years ago, and the special food rules that applied for them. 

 

“It smells very good,” Dior could almost not keep himself in control as he was served a large plate of rice pilaf, while Celegorm took a chicken salad. The hunter had already told the teenager that he could order a second serving if he was not filled after the first dish, so he could eat as much as he wanted. 

  
  


At another table across the restaurang, a man in his mid-30s was waiting on someone. Not a date or anything such, it was merely a meeting to break the lonely life they both lived, with a little company from time to time when they could meet. 

 

“It is nice to meet you again, Khamûl, it have been a while since last,” Emeldir greeted as she took a seat.

 

_ Yes, it have been, _ Khamûl responded in sign language since he was mute from childhood, the reason being a huge scar on his throat that had damaged his vocal folds. 

 

They had known each other for nearly his whole life, and it had been her husband Barahir who had saved a very young Khamûl and his widowed mother from the only known bombering that had happened in the chaos of the social unrest following the death of sultan Garam III, the same event where Khamûl had lost his voice. Barahir Ladros had been greatly injured from the bomb, but managed to survive long enough to return home to Valinor and personally given the Easterling mother and son the idea of moving to his home country in the hope of that better operating techniques might help Khamûl regain his voice. 

 

While that sadly had proved impossible, Khamûl and his mother had still liked Formenos well enough to stay there for the rest of their lives. Their adjustment had helped in that Barahir's widow Emeldir and her own son Beren had been their neighbors. Yet despite being something in the style of childhood friends, Khamûl had often felt that Beren were not the smartest person when pretty girls were involved. The adult Beren falling in love with and being the secret lover of Luthien, a role that was literally asking for trouble with her fans, had been proof of that. 

 

“As someone who knew the pain of not having a father present in his life, especially when Barahir eventually died from his injuries only a few months after his return home, should have made Beren realize the mistake of running in front of Luthien like he did that time!” Khamûl thought for himself as he started to eat on his own ordered dish, Emeldir doing the same with her own. It had been a huge shock for Khamûl to see the two-year-old Dior not long after that he had started to work for Sauron as a bodyguard, since the toddler had inherited the smoke-grey eyes from Emeldir and the brown hair of Barahir, signs of his paternity which was impossible to miss for someone who had known that family for a long time. 

 

“By the way. I had some wonderful news yesterday evening. You know that DNA lab that help people search for missing or unknown relatives and I have requested their help a few times over the years? Well, I finally got some lovely news;  **_I have a grandson._ ** ”

 

Khamûl had wanted to tell Emeldir where her grandson were living almost as soon as he had realized the truth, but Sauron had pointed out the risks with a such reveal when he had told his boss about why he had acted so strange at the visit to the Greymantle family. Not only that Thingol would deny that Dior even existed, but that Luthien were unlikely to give up her child to the boy's paternal grandmother just like she had refused to let him be taken away from her and adopted into a different family after birth.

 

_ I hope that you can manage to meet the boy soon, then. I am sure that he must be wondering over his origins,  _ Khamûl signed with his hands just as their coffees were served as their dessert. Emeldir might be unaware of that her grandson was in the same building right now, but in that very moment Dior showed himself to be holding his cup of iced tea in almost the exact manner as his grandmother did with her coffee cup in both hands. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of Tyelkormo never marrying again after the divorce from his unfaithful wife, was a idea based on what happens in canon with Luthien, Beren and Celegorm. The wife of Tyelkormo was on the edge to be seen as an old maid in her late twenties who did not attract suitors because of her haughty personality, and her old, widowed father basically begged on his knees to the third son of Nelyafinwë to marry his daughter because he wanted her married before he died, out of desperation to secure her future
> 
> I thought that Emeldir is likely being a historian in the style of my two RL favorites Suzannah Lipscomb and Lucy Worsley
> 
> Ondolindë is the original name in Quenya of the city that became known as Gondolin, which I thought suiting for a royal dynasty that dies out because of a war and lack of heirs. (for those who wants to read more, check out my other story General Nelyafinwë and the tales of his time)
> 
> In canon Emeldir most likely named her son after her own father, who is written as Beren (son of Belemir) on the Tolkien wikis to not be confused with his famous grandson
> 
> Khamûl does not know that Sauron and Luthien are half-siblings, only that Sauron felt compassion for Dior as someone else born out of wedlock


	23. New and old meetings, part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior and Emeldir finally met

The daily mail had arrived when Dior had been at the wildlife aid center today. He had not noticed it before, but today he had paid some extra attention to how much he could lift those days, especially when compared to two months ago. 

 

“It is so incredibly, to learn that I already added seven kilos to my weight thanks to the bigger food portions I am served, being able to eat as much as I want and a lot of daily exercise.”      

 

Just yesterday, when he and Celebrimbor had been babysitting Elrond and Elros while all four had cooled off in the creek not far from the neighborhood, he had also realized that he had gained muscles on his upper body. He had always been tall for his age, but it was first now that Dior had started to notice that he actually looked more like a teenager around his age group because he no longer were underfed.   

 

 Fëanor was the one to bring him back to the present by a comment:  

 

“Ah, this is a report we always do about every foster child in our care, about every two months since the day of arrival, so the authorities will know how it goes for both the foster family and the foster child,” 

 

Fëanor held a stamped envelope that was bigger than a normal one, since there was some papers and a envelope inside to send the papers back in, and there was the name of the local children and the youth authority on the envelope. 

 

“Ah, those are for my work, I offered to be a intermediator between the company and a new customer,” Caranthir spoke when he checked though a few envelopes with his name on.  

 

And then there was one for Dior, stamped in what was the name of the DNA lab in the city of Tirion. He did not need to ask what it was about, given the request he had sent to them only last week.    

 

“Do you want to open the letter in private at your room, Dior? It is about your own family after all, so it might feel less scary to open it when you are alone.” 

 

He nodded, taking the letter with him. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Inside his guest room, Dior said on the bed, feeling how his hands was actually trembling. Both in hope over that his paternal grandparents might still be able, and in fear for that they might be dead. To have lived his whole life without even a chance for them to possibly know that he existed… 

 

“No, I can not think like that, I will only scare myself!” 

 

Somehow, despite his trembling hands, he managed to open the letter and pulled out the contents. 

 

His father Beren was listed as deceased, which did not surprise Dior at all, and sadly it said the same for his paternal grandfather. Barahir Ladros were listed as having been a soldier in the army, and the reason for his death read: __

_ Death by injuries he suffered in the social unrest of the Eastern Sultanate.  _

 

So his grandfather had died when his father was seven years old, huh? Another unknown similarity between them, though Beren had died before Dior even had been born. 

 

As for his grandmother....

 

Dior could not take his eyes off the paper marked as  _ Confirmed living relative,  _ which showed that that there was a match between himself and his grandmother through a set of 25 % shared DNA with Beren linking them together. He had a **_living_ ** grandmother. No one else than the woman named Emeldir Ladros, and she lived here in Formenos in the other end of the town, where there was a neighborhood built about forty years ago. 

 

“ **_She is alive...she is ALIVE!!!_ ** ”   

 

Dior had not meant to raise his voice into a shout, but it seemed like his foster parents might have expected something like that. 

 

“I take it as you are meaning your paternal grandmother?” 

 

Dior was still staring at the information about his grandmother, unable to take his eyes off it. 

 

“Oh Eru,  **_what a irony!_ ** The same woman who your maternal family have loathed ever since her first publicly known protests against the modern fashion industry twenty years ago?!” Caranthir said when he walked over to the bed and looked over Dior's shoulder, since the teenager was not answering. 

 

It seemed like Emeldir was a famous name locally, especially as she was the head historian on the museum. 

 

“Her home address is here so you know where she lives, Dior, but I do not think it would be wise to rush off to her house in case she is not at home. Rather, write a letter about that you have gotten the result and ask if she might like to meet you at a neutral place, like the museum.” 

 

Nerdanel did have a good point about that Emeldir herself or her neighbors could misunderstand the entire situation if an unknown teenager was outside her house all day, rumours said that there had been several journalists trying to come to Formenos and pestering the lady ever since Doriath Beauty had gotten its ugly side revealed. 

 

“Can you help me with writing the letter? I am not sure what to write to someone I have never met before in my life and I would rather not touch any sensitive topic by mistake…”

 

A handwritten letter would be a lot more personal, as well. 

  
  
  


The same evening:

 

Given how pretty much everything was about Doriath Beauty in the news, Emeldir had warned her co-workers about that people might pay her unwanted attention over the fashion company, given how she was known to protest against the modern fashion industry. 

 

“It was a wise idea to use my maiden name, that way no one can claim that my protests also were a attempt to get justice for my son…” she thought as she emptied her mailbox at today's post and put the whole pile on the kitchen table, because she wanted to change to her home clothes first.

 

As if Beren's premature death even had been her motivation in the first place, when she actually had made her first protests as a college student, only a few months before she had first met Barahir by accidentally knocking him over with the sign she had been carrying! No, it was how people had begun to take the ability to buy ready-made clothing in a clothes shop for granted, and choosing to simply buy new clothes instead of using a sewing needle and thread to mend holes in the fabric and old housewife tricks to make them last longer. 

 

“A letter?” 

 

It was her grandson who had written the letter, some basic information about himself for her to know about and a request if they could have a meeting face-to-face this Saturday on the museum. 

 

“Peanut allergy? Oh, Beren would be heartbroken over that, to have a son that is allergic to his favorite snacks!” 

 

But it seemed like Dior could eat hazelnuts and almonds without trouble if it was not eaten too often, so maybe she could gift him some homemade cookies if she just were careful. 

 

“I know that my old cookbook is somewhere here...ah, yes, the hazelnut cookies that Barahir loved so much!”

 

This Saturday was going to be pleasant for sure, although Emeldir had to wonder why her grandson had been named in a such manner that seriously was making her question his mother's logic in names for a child. Because, had the woman failed to realize the more ill-favored meaning and risk of overwhelming expectations of a such name? 

 

As a historian Emeldir knew that names could be interpreted very differently in the past and present. The given name of her grandson had once been a royal title in the nowadays long-gone southern kingdom of Valmar which had been known as governed under very religious terms, often given to the intended successor to the reigning Priest-King as a marking of believing that person worthy of being the next one. 

 

“I hope that he have not faced any difficulties such as bullying about his name in the past, those with unusual names can become targets for that….” 

 

No, she had to plan for this Saturday, so she could give a good first impression of herself to her grandson. And if she brought some of the needed ingredients to what had been the favorite dishes of Barahir and Beren, maybe Dior could get a better sense of the two mens' personalities despite that they were both only bones in the earth now.  

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Dior had chosen the room with the exhibition about the Orphan Trains, in a symbolic manner of that just like those orphans in the past, he had arrived to Formenos without his birth family and was hoping to find a new one. Now he was sitting on the wooden bench in the middle of the room, anxiously waiting for Emeldir to arrive. 

 

“Did Celegorm seriously have to leave me alone right now?!”

 

He knew that Celegorm was in one of the other exhibitions to give him and Emeldir some time alone, since it was their first meeting, but Dior still would have liked the hunter to at least be somewhere where he could be seen. 

 

“Dior?” a feminine voice spoke, and he looked over his shoulder. A older woman, no older than her mid-60s at most, with her greying-turning-white hair set up in a braid across one shoulder, dressed in a plain beige cotton skirt and white blouse. Her deep tan skin tone seemed darker thanks to her hair colour, and there was no mistake in the grey eyes for Dior, for it was the exact same smoke-grey colour and shape as his own.  

 

“Grandma?”  

 

Celegorm watched them from a different room, seeing how Dior broke out in tears after saying the word, and then almost threw himself into her arms when Emeldir opened her arms in a welcoming manner. The widow herself were also crying in joy over finally meeting the grandchild she had been searching for under so many years.

 

_ Mild but understandable emotional drama here, _ he texted to his parents after carefully taking a photo of Dior and Emeldir hugging each other, and then posting the photo on the messenger as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> given that Luthien is a half-Elf/half-Maia and Beren a mortal Man in canon with a big age difference between them at first because Luthien was immortal, I wanted Beren to be one year older than her in this AU, and had just turned 21 years old when he was shot
> 
> Dior's name actually means "successor" in Doriathrin, the branch of Sindarin spoken in Doriath. Personally as both a reader of the Silmarillion and writer of fanfiction, I have questioned the logic of giving him a such name, since it brings up the question of WHAT he would be the successor of: foreshadowing his role as King of Doriath after Thingol? Inheriting Luthien's beauty as he was the product of three different heritages (races), that of the Ainur (Maiar), Men, and Elves? Being the next head of the House of Bëor after his father Beren? His parents hoping that he as a adult would do heroic deeds like their own Quest for the Silmaril?
> 
> A priest-king means a sacerdotal ruler: one who rules as king by right of his priestly office functioning as vice-regent of a deity
> 
> According to the timeline at Tolkien Gateway, Emeldir was 26 years old when she gave birth to Beren, so she is currently 63 years old as Beren would have been 37 years old if he had lived. Here Barahir died at the age of 39 years, and would have been 69 years if alive since in canon he was 6 years older than Emeldir


	24. New and old meetings, part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior learns some details about Beren's real personality from Emeldir, and something new happens outside Formenos as well

When both had stopped crying and could talk normally again, Emeldir offered Dior to come along out to the ice-cream shop where they could sit down and talk at one of the small tables. There, she spoke a little bit about her work and such, since as a widow with no living children, her job had become a very important way for keep up her social life since her old friends did not want to remind her of her losses by showing up their own children and grandchildren. 

 

“So your foster family is the Nos Feanor, huh? I heard about it though some harmless gossip here in town, that they had taken in a new foster child this summer. Newcomers are always something of a curiosity for the first week or so they are seen,” Emeldir smiled at him, enjoying the sight of how Dior had inherited Barahir's hair colour which made it easier for her to notice small similarities between her deceased husband and their only grandchild.   

 

“Can...you tell about dad? My mother never wanted to talk about him, because somehow it always ended up turning back into how he died…” Dior asked when their respective mint chocolate ice-cream and orange ice-cream had been served in two glass bowls.        

 

Emeldir signed, trying to find a good start to talk about her son. She loved Beren, but he had been flawed like all humans and their parent-child relationship had not been the best because after that she had became a widow, Emeldir did not have a spouse to help out in conflicts between Beren and herself. 

 

“He grew up here in Formenos just like his father Barahir did, while I was born and raised in a rural-urban fringe outside Nargothrond. Your grandfather was six years older than myself, and had climbed to the rank of officer when we married. However, Barahir's death….affected Beren in a manner I never liked as he grew from child into a teenager.  **_He wanted to be a hero_ ** , outshining others around him in a different manner than being a world star in football or any other sport.”     

 

Dior drank some of his Sprite as he listened, allowing his grandmother to talk without being interrupted. As a single parent, she had sometimes struggled with Beren as her son grew up, especially when she feared that he seemed to take things for granted over time. His father had been a daydreamer with the biggest flaw of being drawn to girls out of his reach, which Elmeldir had not enjoyed, especially after several events at the school where he had been in a fight about a cute girl with her boyfriend. 

 

“That he seemed to want things that was not his, was not the only trouble. Around your age, Beren also started to feel…. _ bored _ with the idea of living his whole life in Formenos. In a place like this, it is very hard to sneak in on places that is forbidden for minors, and basically everyone knew who he was thanks to my work. He was drawn to the idea of being anonymous in the modern cities, of having a work that was not “ _ done by everyone else here _ ”, as he claimed when he tried to get into another high school than the one here in town.” 

 

She spoke of how Beren had dismissed the idea of staying in Formenos and settle down with a local woman, the arguments between mother and son over his choice to leave as soon as he turned eighteen years and was of legal age. Emeldir had not exactly kicked him out of the house, but she had refused to give Beren any more than the minimal amount of money needed for his train ticket and food. 

 

“I know, it sounds harsh for me to do so towards my only child, but it was a desperate attempt to wake him up to the reality that I would not always be around to request money from, and that being a adult meant that he had to earn his own money for food, clothing and a roof over his head.”  

 

There had been a few times when Beren had nearly admitted defeat by finding out the hard way that Emeldir had been right about that not everyone hired an eighteen-year-old who had chosen work over college. He had been living on the money earned on temporary work while also studying to some form of security guard for nearly a year before finally getting a real employment as a worker in the exact same urban park in Menegroth City as where he would find his death only two years later. 

 

In fact, Dior paled at hearing Emeldir mention that little detail. 

 

“Surely dad can not have been so stupid as trying to get a job with weapons involved? After how grandfather….died?”

 

Even if it had been the bomb that had caused the injuries that would end Barahir's life later, he had been well aware of the risks the sight of someone with a shotgun or rifle could cause. 

 

“I am afraid that Beren did not think in that way. For him, being a security guard was a way to enter a world vastly different from Formenos.  **_That of the upper classes,_ ** wealthy people who needed guards to protect themselves and their families.” 

 

Dior realized the unspoken words his grandmother tried to say. His dad had hoped to perhaps marrying up in the families of the south, becoming part of a life that he would never have in Formenos where most people were descendants of farmers and craftsmen, as was most common in the north. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Unknown to grandmother and grandson in that moment, something very different happened in Erebor: 

 

“I fully understands that it is not a pleasant thought of the old mines possibly being used for such unlawful things despite that you have a very good security around the entrances, but it is better to check one extra time than regretting it later.”

 

Thranduil had traveled to the north of Valinor to expand the search for possible places where the murdered models of Doriath Beauty could be buried. As a result, he had met up with the local police in Erebor for a search inside the old mines with its closed-off tunnels. 

 

“However...., “ Thranduil started, glaring over his shoulder on the two people in the backseat, “ **_why did the two of of you insist on coming along despite counting as civilians!?_ ** ” 

 

Something else, however, was not planned and was a truly pure opportunity; his son Legolas and his fellow stage actor aka best friend Gimli had been in Nargothrond for the current stop of the tour of a theater play they both played in. Somehow, Legolas had spotted his father even among the crowd and managed to get himself and Gimli on the same train as Thranduil towards Erebor. 

 

“Because we have not seen each others face-to-face for nearly four months?” Legolas offered with a raised eyebrow, all while Gimli took the chance to tell his friend of the mines where they would search. 

 

“Just stay out of the mine, you two, unless you want to be sent back to the hotel in a police car,” police officer Dwalin warned as he parked the car. A unknown man was with some other police officers in front of the mine, but his badge read him as Captain Boromir Steward of the Gondor troops.  

 

“Some of my soldiers mentioned a fear about possible relatives being among the missing fashion models,” Boromir explained to why he was here in Erebor, in the middle of his holiday, instead of being in Formenos with his brother as originally planned.

 

“Get in first, Nori,” Dwalin growled, to which his companion obeyed by clinging down over the edge to one of the tunnels that could only be reached from above. Nori might be known for having trouble with staying on the right side of the law, but he was a valuable asset to the police by being a very skilled climber and had even helped out in other kinds of investigations inside the mines before. 

 

It did not take long for Nori to hurry back up, looking pale in the face. 

 

“Light up with the big flashlights downwards, gentlemen, but it is not a pretty sight you will see there.” 

  
  


Several bodies had been hidden in the darkness. Some had only bones remaining, others were fresh as being dumped there only days ago. All of the young women and men had been killed by something striking them in the head, to ensure that they really was dead. 

 

“The models who have not shown up as witnesses against Doriath Beauty yet!” Thranduil said at realizing who the dead people must be. 

 

“They must have been using the local storm three days ago as cover, since the mines are closed off during such weather!” 

 

And with some of the suspected workers at Doriath Beauty had not yet been brought in for questioning… 

 

Dwalin muttered something under his breath as his cell phone rang and he needed to answer: 

 

“What is it?! This is not the right time to….a mentally unstable criminal escaping from a transport between two prisons?”

 

He listened more on what the other person said. 

 

“Ar-Pharazôn Alcarondas?! The guy who tried to shot Luthien Greymantle at that concert 17 years ago and who was was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a prison for the mentally ill, for his violent actions there and mad claims that she belonged to him and that no other man should touch her?” 

 

None of them noticed that one of the examiners raised the sound level on a hidden transistor radio. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

In Angband prison, Sauron was busy with something behind the back of the guards. He had always been good with technology, especially with computers which had led to his “hobby” as a hacker over the years. Right now he used his skills to rearrange the small TV screen in his cell as a improvised mix of computer and radio, carefully listening with one ear after the footsteps of the guards outside his cell while getting into contact with his best subordinates known under the codename of the Nazgûl. 

 

“Oh no…” Sauron muttered in alarm at hearing in the earphone what Dwalin just had head all the way in Erebor. This was not good news, if Ar-Pharazôn had heard about Luthien committing suicide and that Doriath Beauty was ruined by the current revealing of its dark side, there was a high risk of that Dior could become a target if his physical similarity to Luthien was uncovered, especially with that Dior did have the curse of being born with a slightly more male version of her face. 

 

“Khamûl, that lunatic who shot Beren have managed to escape and is on the run somewhere in the wildness. Keep my nephew and his grandmother under your guard all the time, they risk becoming targets of that madman if he manages to reach the outpost of Formenos!” 

 

It was all Sauron could do, send away similar orders to all the Nazgûl to guard Formenos, because he had to close off the connection and pretend that he had been trying to fix a reception disruption in the tv connection when a guard opened the small window in the cell door to check on what he could be doing behind their backs.  

 

At least he had managed to send the message to all of them. Well, all the Nazgûl except for Angmar, who had gotten himself landed in jail for ten years this very spring thanks to his own underlings being idiotic enough to try a bank robbery in the light of open day near the place where a ceremony for newly graduated riding police officers took place almost exactly at the same time and Angmar had found himself knocked out and arrested by one of the female officers before anyone of the bank robbers could escape from the bank. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About the idea of this version of Beren hoping to marry up, try and think of his and Luthien's socal status in canon. The House of Bëor ceased to exist as an independent House after the Dagor Bragollach, when orcs at the behest of Morgoth invaded and overran their land. After the death of Barahir, Beren was the only survivor due to being sent to scout during the attack where his father died and that made Beren the last person of the House of Bëor. Also, as a princess of the Elves, Luthien would be of far higher status than a fellow wife or daughter of a chieftain
> 
> As this version of Beren is also descended from royalty, the House of Bëor being a historical royal dynasty that abdicated their kingship during the mid 18th century in-story and legally changed their surname to Ladros in order to not be easily tracked by possible enemies, he felt that his family had fallen very low in social status with his dad being a common soldier in the army and wanted to regain some social influence. 
> 
> Aaaand we meet some familiar members of the Fellowship of the Ring! In this modern AU Legolas and Gimli are a star-raising duo of stage actors who gets along famously both on and off stage, while Boromir is in the national army in contrast to Faramir being a park ranger in Himring national park 
> 
> Alcarondas or Aglarrâma, the "Castle of the Sea", was the golden-and-black flagship of Ar-Pharazôn, the last King of Númenor. It had many oars and many masts, upon which were sails of gold and sable. In this ship, he sailed to the shores of Aman, leading his armada of ships called the Great Armament to challenge the Valar. Alcarondas reached the Undying Lands, anchored at shores of the Undying Lands and Ar-Pharazôn reached Tirion, but this act only condemned him, his fleet and his kingdom.
> 
> A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. 
> 
> Of course Éowyn works as a riding police and is the one to arrest this modern version of the Witch-King of Angmar given that she is the one to kill him in canon!


	25. Old and new meetings, part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior visits Emeldir in her own home, and meets someone from his past

After that Emeldir had told about why Beren had chosen to leave Formenos, Dior felt that it was uncomfortable to ask more about him. Instead, he requested a few details about his grandfather Barahir, which cheered Emeldir up. It was not that she was ashamed of Beren, but as she had said earlier, their mother-son relationship had not been the best.                

 

“Taking things for granted is a bad habit, Dior, as well desiring things out of your reach. I can not tell how your father might have been different with your grandfather not dying, but I truly hope that he would still be alive, if anything else.”     

 

Dior nodded, seeing her point. And with the way he had been treated by his maternal family, all because his parents had not been married before he was born, there had never been many things Dior could look forwards to. Melian always ignoring him unless there really was something she had to say, needing to keep away and out of sight from Thingol in order to not be attacked with harsh words. Luthien always needing to see him at last once each day…

 

It had not became much better by Thingol dying. Yes, it had been pleasant to finally not having to sneak around in his own home, but the betrayal from Luthien though what he had found on that secret website, that she had chosen a wife for him with the goal of never letting him leave...

 

No, his foster family was the first time Dior had felt like he was  _ welcomed _ . They listened on him and treated him like a actual human instead of a mistake that could not be removed, did not force him to be “satisfied” with the portion sizes that Luthien had insisted on or tried to serve him only vegan food in order to keep him slim as his mother. 

 

“I want to stay here in Formenos. My soul have been longing for the north in several lives, and first now I have finally came home…” Dior thought, feeling very emotional again when Emeldir hugged him in goodbye. She needed to return home due to having a old friend come visiting that evening, but she promised that he could come to visit her home tomorrow if he so wanted, and Dior agreed to visit for lunch.  

 

“Is it alright if Celegorm or someone else comes along? You lives in a area of Formenos where I have not been before, and it would not be fun if I got lost!” 

 

Emeldir laughed warmly over his words, again showing how different she would be from Melian, a welcoming warmth which Dior had been starved on. 

 

“Of course. We may not be complete strangers anymore now when we know each other face and our connection though blood, but I do not think you would be enough comfortable around me alone yet.” 

 

 She had a fair point, this was their first meeting and it would take time before they might act as if they had known each other for his whole life. As for why Dior had wanted Celegorm to be one one following him the day after, it was pretty simple.      

 

“Since Celegorm was the first one in my foster family that I got to meet, I feel most of a connection to him…” Dior thought as the hunter waved to him to come over to his jeep so they could drive home. 

 

Celegorm was not surprised by that Dior wanted him along the next day. 

 

“You do the right thing to bring someone trusted along. After all, it will be a unfamiliar place for you and it can be overwhelming in the realization that her house could have been a place where a lot of your childhood could have been spent, had things been different.”

 

Dior was quiet in his seat, wondering just how different he could have grown up here in Formenos with his grandmother as a legal guardian, if Luthien had known her name. Since Thingol had tried to get him adopted almost straight after birth, surely it was not a too strange imagination of that Emeldir likely would have been requested to come down to Menegroth City by train and take him with her from the birth home where he was born?  

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

The next day, Celegorm drove Dior to where Emeldir lived. It was a thatched cottage inside the middle of a small garden, with two levels hidden under the thatched roof. Not that big in size, but enough for a small family. 

 

Emeldir came out from what had to be a door to the , dressed in what seemed to be a different set of the clothes she had worn yesterday. Or perhaps she simply was the type of woman who felt more feminine in long skirts with a matching blouse. 

 

“Welcome, both of you.” 

 

The ground floor was separated in the kitchen area, dining area and a living room with a large bathroom and laundry in the rear of the cottage. The three bedrooms were on the upper floor, one where Emeldir still slept because it was the master bedroom, another which had been Baren room while growing up and a guest room with a small toilet to share between the three bedrooms. The attic was used for storage of various items that Elemdir did not need during the current season. 

 

“Those photos...it is grandfather Barahir, right?” Dior wondered at seeing some photos of a far younger Emeldir and a tall man dressed in military uniform, on the wall behind the tv sofa. The teenanger could have sworn that ir was his own dark brown hair colour, at least. 

 

“I will show you more photos and even a few home-videos of him after lunch! Celegorm, as you came along I made some extra portions!” Emeldir promised from the kitchen, as she had to keep a eye on the food. 

 

“Thank you,” Celegorm said as they entered the dining area. 

  
  


Emeldir showed how Barahir had been a big lover of homemade food, and in general loving her meatballs served with mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam and a cream sauce coloured brown by creating it in the same pan as the meatballs had been fried in, adding cream to make it thicken and then Worcestershire sauce. 

 

“It is not a joke that the way to a man's heart goes though the stomach. Of course, it happens in the other way too, since cooking is a such important part of everyday life.” 

 

She spoke fondly of how Barahir had won her heart not only by being able to cook, but other household chores he had learned in the military, 

 

“If he had not died as he did, I think Barahir would not be pleased with how Beren often would sloppy with cleaning his room unless I nagged on him or reminded that we would have relatives visiting, and taking his dirty clothes to the laundry only when he started running out of clean clothes. Also, he rarely paid attention in the cooking class at school, I am afraid.” 

 

Dior nodded as he ate, as a soldier Barahir would know how important it was to keep your living space nice and clean so you did not trip over anything in the dark, and not being able to cook a decent meal with rations meant that you might not be trusted to cook for others. 

 

“I hope that dad did not food poison anyone by mistake?” 

 

“Thankfully never anything such dramatic, as that would have resulted in him getting banned from the cooking lessons for a month. But the one time I visited him in Menegroth City in order to personally give him a Christmas gift, I noticed that his refrigerator and kitchen cabinets was filled with fast food that only needed to be heated up in the oven or boiled quickly. He always wanted to eat at a fast food restaurant whatever we visited the south, preferably those who served hamburger and other kinds of fried food, because there is no such restaurants here in Formenos.” 

 

With what Dior knew of fast food, that was basically Beren inviting himself to a unhealthy lifestyle if he did not learn how to cook real food. Not to mention, that would greatly contrast with the fine dinner parties and fancy restaurants Luthien had grown up with. Again he wondered exactly what that had once drawn his parents to each other enough for them to fall in love, really, if their upbringings were so vastly different. Or had it originally been sexual lust, which they had mistaken as real love due to their age? 

  
  


Once they had finished the lunch, Dior was allowed to go upstairs and look on the family photo albums Emeldir kept in the master room, while she and Celegorm talked about something that was between adults only. 

 

“Seems like Grandfather had a sense of humour, or a ability to catch the funny in a situation when it was his turn to use the camera,” Dior laughed at seeing several photos of a preschool-aged Beren in rather laughable photos such pulling a plastic bucket over his head, trying to dress in Barahir's far too big sweaters or being chased by some ducks on what must be a local farm. There was even a few of Emeldir, like in a photo being taken just as a strong wind covered her face by her long hair loosening from the braid she wore or a photo where Elmedir in her last months of pregnancy had a facial expression that revealed without words that she must feel like a hippopotamus due to all the pregnancy weight. 

 

“Oh, what is this?” 

 

There was a envelope between the last two pages in the album showing Barahir's last few months in life.  _ To my grandchild _ it did read. Realizing that Emeldir must have placed it there for him to find, Dior opened the letter. 

 

_ My dear grandchild  _

 

_ By the time you must be reading this letter, I am gone since many years. It is regretful that I must leave your grandmother and father to join my forefathers, but death is a part of life and I feel pride over that I managed to protect innocent people, even if the bombing did leave damage on my body as result.  _

 

_ I hope that my beloved Emeldir is healthy in her current age, and that Beren is not being a neglectful father in some form, since he is already showing signs of daydreaming already at this age. I admit that if that is not corrected early, my son will not learn to appreciate what is important in life.  _

 

_ I hope that you are healthy as well, and living a good life. What are your hobbies outside school? Dreams for your adult life? Surely you must have heard about me being a soldier, that is not uncommon among my forefathers and I wanted to do something good in countries that is not as safe as Valinor.  _

 

_ For all of that we will never meet face to face, never doubt that I care for you, child, even now as I writes this, long before you are born. I wish for you to be healthy and happy, growing up to a responsible adult with a job that you enjoy and hopefully with a partner who you can form a family with later in life.  _

 

_ Life is not fair, and it can be cruel as well, but that is the same for everyone. Do not waste your life desiring what is out of reach, but instead appreciate the little things in life that is meaningful. Family and good friends, caring for others, the natural things that is not taken for granted.   _

 

_ Please take care of Emeldir for me, dear grandchild, for she will need someone to be a steady rock for her in the course of life, shall our son not prove himself able to give her the care and support she will need in old age. I fully understand that it must be difficult to imagine a such role, especially when you are still young, but if your father proves himself to not be responsible even as a adult man, you may be her only close relative to step in. Emeldir is the youngest of three siblings, but requesting a niece or nephew to care for an elderly aunt alongside their own parents may be too much in the long run.  _

 

_ So please, take care of your grandmother in my place.  _

 

_ With great love _

 

_ Grandpa Barahir  _

 

Dior felt very emotional again when he had reached the the signature, trying to not start crying so the letter would not be strained by his tears. Sure, the letter was meant as gender-neutral because Barahir would not be able to know whatever it would be a grandson or granddaughter reading the letter, but it still felt like a personal letter meant only for him.

 

And Barahir had a good point. With Beren gone at the young age of 21 years at his death, Dior himself was the only close relative left to care for Emeldir in old age. 

  
  


After a small while so he could get himself together over the letter, he returned downstairs to see what caused the lovely smell of an homemade, freshly baked cake. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

At Dior's request when they left the neighborhood, Celegorm drove over to the local temple and its belonging burial ground. 

 

“Did you tell grandmother the identity of my mother as I asked yesterday evening?” 

 

Dior had found himself unable to find a good way to explain to Emeldir that his maternal family was the Greymantle family, and thus requested Celegorm to tell her that information. 

 

“Yeah. She was shocked at first when she realized that Beren had not only protected his secret girlfriend and his unborn child, but also that you had been hidden away from her all those years. Still, I think she will not hold that against you, no one can be responsible for events that happened before you were even born.” 

 

At least that had been dealt with, Dior thought for himself when he found where Barahir's grave was. It seemed to be a intended family grave, as Beren's name, date of birth and death was also on the granite tombstone. 

 

Celegorm had gone to a different part, visiting the graves of some older hunters that had been his mentors as a young man, and when Dior turned, he was surprised to see a familiar person at another grave a bit away. 

 

“Khamûl?!” 

 

Indeed, it was the Easterling who had been part of the personal bodyguards for Sauron. Dior had last seen him almost five years ago, only a few days before that Sauron had been arrested for his crimes linked to the black market, but as Sauron had worked as the Security Manager for the summer house with the task to keep him hidden from the outside world, Khamûl had been a familiar face for Dior somewhat, even been watched by him the few times Luthien had allowed her son to come along on something outside the summer house.

 

_ Nice to see you again, kid. I heard about what happened with your mother earlier this summer, and hoped that you would not be revealed by the media because as a celebrity in the fashion world, she attracted journalists,  _ Khamûl responded by writing on a writing booklet and held it up for the teenager to read. Dior had learned some sign language from him during the time Khamûl had been watching him, but he did not know enough many signs to communicate flawlessly in a long conversation. 

 

“No, police officer Fingolfin Ringil managed to hide me in a group home for teenagers in the foster care system as his patrol car was the first one to arrive to the summer house, after that the house maids had called the police in alarm about her suicide and he realized my own identity since people would have seen it as a possible sex scandal if it came out that there was a teenager in the same house as a twenty year older woman. It would have been impossible to hide me from the police, anyway, as they searched through the whole house.” 

 

Khamûl raised a eyebrow in agreement. A 36-year-old woman and a 16-year-old found in the same house as the police arrived, could be the stuff for juicy rumors among those who loved gossip, especially if there was no photos of Dior in the newspapers or anything else that could reveal him as Luthien's own biological son. After all, there was other examples of celebrities who ended up in hot water due to being found in not so innocent situations with minors. 

 

“Why are you here, by the way? Did you lose your job when Sauron was arrested?” 

 

_ Your grandfather helped me and my mother move from the Eastern Sultanate 30 years ago. Remembering that I once told you that I lost my voice in childhood? The same bombing that injured Barahir, gave me this scar on my throat. _

 

Oh, Dior realized when he saw the female name on the gravestone. It was Khamûl's mother, who had passed away five years ago. He must have returned to Formenos to stay with her during the last weeks of her life and then dealing with the burial as her only living relative, which had prevented his own arrest when Sauron was found out.

 

Seeing a chance to explain some of the troublesome truth, Khamûl told Dior about why Elmeldir had never gotten to know about him before. And the teenager had to agree to the logic Sauron had presented nearly 17 years earlier, that Thingol would deny his existence and most likely try to paint Emeldir as a hysterical woman who was desperate for finding a scapegoat for the death of her only child. Not to mention that with the reveal of what Doriath did with models that had became “too old” to use in their fashion shows, it could very well mean that Khamûl had risked to be murdered in order to keep silent. 

 

“What are you working with those days?”

 

_ Security guard at the museum and up at the old ruins of Himring in the national park. There is a lot of people who wants a “real” souvenir from historical places and have been attempting to steal what the archaeologists dig out every summer. They most often finds themselves in jail with a huge fine as a result. _

 

Of course Khamûl would use his old skills for jobs like that. Besides, the historical sites had to be protected in some way. 

 

“Dior! It is time to return home!” Celegorm called from the entrance, and he had to leave. 

 

“See you again at some time, Khamûl!” 

 

It felt nice to at least learn the reason why Elmeldir had only found out about him though the DNA test, and Dior did not doubt that his parents had kept their relationship secret in order to be able to elope away from Menegroth City. Perhaps after that concert that had changed everything, since Thingol and Melian originally had planned some business trip the following weekend, while their daughter got a peaceful weekend to rest after the concert? Luthien would not be able to hide her condition for long once it became visible that she was pregnant, after all. 

 

“I will not return to the south, not by my own choices…!”

 

Here in Formenos, he had found a biological relative, and he had his foster family and new friends here too. The south of Valinor only meant the past, so why would he even want to return?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to the Tolkien wikis online, Emeldir has two unnamed older siblings of unknown gender, and with Beren being her only child, that would limit the number of younger relatives to care for her in old age, especially with Dior being her only grandchild in both canon and in this modern AU


	26. Secret heirdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Díor finds out something that have been in his paternal family for centuries

Most of the following week was spent like the earlier part of summer, only that Dior actually was brave enough to ask Nimloth on a date and they went to watch the newest Disney movie called  _ Atlantis: The Lost Empire  _ on the the local cinema.              

“That was good, actually!”             

 

After that the movie credits had started, did Dior explain to her about that he had spent most of his childhood watching older movies for children, such as  _ Three Wishes for Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Bambi  _ and a few other movies that Luthien had chosen for him.  

 

“Sounds like you would need a Disney marathon, then!” she laughed, and Dior actually grinned in return. He had grown a little more self-confident over the summer so far, and had now come far enough that he did not fear to be out among people. Granted, he would need more time to work on his social skills, but helping out in the wildlife aid center had done a big deal on the starting point. 

 

Of course, life being as it was, their date was interrupted by that they both got a call from the wildlife aid center, requesting their help with swan that had crash landed badly in a backward somewhere in Formenos. 

  
  


On the way back to the center, Dior found out that swans might seem elegant out in the waters when swimming, but that they were often not exactly grateful to have been rescued. 

 

“Stop pinching me, thank you. It hurts,” Dior commented when the swan kept hissing and pinching his arm with its beak from the backseat. Nimloth, who was driving the car, was not safe from its ungratefulness, either.  

 

“Ow, ow, ow. Did your parents not teach you any manners about about being grateful?” she said after getting pinched really hard. As she needed to focus on the driving, it was not pleasant to get thanked by the swan in that manner. 

 

“Really, you are not a pleasant little swan right now, ruining our date and all that…” 

 

In response, the swan only hissed in a attempt to sound scary. Thankfully they soon arrived to the wildlife aid center so they could leave the swan to the staff. It was perhaps not what they had been planning to do on their date, but it could have been something far less pleasant. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

When Dior made a quick visit to Emeldir two days later, he found his grandmother busy on the phone fixed to the wall. 

 

“...really? Why can you take care of him this time? I am telling you, I am busy this weekend, I can not leave the historical fair like that! Just because I am the youngest sibling and is living alone with no new husband in sight, I am not the one who should carry all the burden of caring for our elderly father! No, just tell him that Beren is unable to leave his work with a charity all over Middle-earth, we did agree that lie was gentler than telling father that he was dead!” 

 

Cutting off the call, she turned around to face her grandson. 

 

“It was one of my siblings, who still lives in Nargothrond. Our father suffer from dementia now in old age and tends to confuse both present and past, together with his various relatives. Now he have gotten the crazy idea to demand that Beren is to visit him, due to thinking that Beren is still alive and a high school student…” 

 

“Would it be bad if I came along with you?” 

 

She looked somewhat hesitant. 

 

“He would mistake you as a gender-defiant girl since you have not fully gained what will likely be the closest look to masculinity you will have as an adult, because of your maternal DNA genes. He is...not exactly quiet in his thoughts about that androgynous people and transgenders are freaks since they do not suit into being clearly male or female. Rather old-fashioned view on people and his dementia makes him say things that can be pretty insensible, I am afraid.”   

 

Along with Emeldir admitting that she was not that close to her siblings due to being born eight years after the middle sibling and that they more or less had slowly drifted apart in adulthood, Dior did agree that perhaps he was best off not meeting his distant relatives for now. 

 

“Does they seriously expect you to take on more of great-grandfather's care despite that he should be in nursing home, right? I mean, if you are the youngest sibling by being 63 years and you are eight years younger than your sibling that is closest in age, then your father must be in his late 80s or early 90s, right?” he had to wonder. 

 

“Yes, add on 30 years and that is his age. My siblings hoped to use that very old-fashioned idea of that it often was the youngest daughter who remained unwed in old times and stayed in her childhood home to take care of elderly parents. But no, I have no plans to move away from Formenos. This is where Barahir and I had our fondest memories already before we married, such as that he did give me his marriage proposal here in the National park, and it is here in Formenos as you and I finally found each other. There is several good retirement homes here as well, so why should I have to move away from the place where I have spent the past 40 years of my life?” 

 

Dior did see her point, and if now both her older siblings was still living in Nargothrond, which naturally put them closer to their father, why did they try to make Emeldir do expensive trips just to arrive and help out? 

  
  


Instead, they simply enjoyed a cup of tea, talking about what would happen when autumn came. 

 

“Basically becoming a local by attending the high school unless you get a new foster family, huh? Well, I know something that will come up on your chosen studies.”

 

Emeldir went to get something from a cabinet. Not just one box, but two in different sizes. She started by opening the bigger one: 

 

“One sad part of reality for the wildlife aid center, is that sometimes they can no do nothing else than end the suffering of a animal. Therefore, they all have a licence for using a handgun should it be needed, so the animal can be killed by one single shot, especially if waiting on a hunter or vet will only prolong the suffering.” 

 

It was a smaller handgun, the pocket size one, which Barahir once had owned due to not feeling comfortable without a weapon on himself for defense. Recalling how Celegorm had needed to shoot that female moose with his rifle, Dior could only nod. A rifle would be too big to carry along in a car, if a lot of nets, transportation cages and other stuff was needed. 

 

“And this...is something so valuable that cannot be described. I brought from Barahir's private safe-deposit at the bank yesterday to show you.”

 

He got some plastic hands to cover his hands with, before Emeldir opened the small box. 

 

“That is…?!” 

 

He had read about this item in his history lessons, how it was tied to one famous royal dynasty and how it basically was a symbol for them. So to be allowed to touch it for real...it was almost unreal. 

 

“Correct. The famed  **_Ring of Barahir,_ ** once given to the Barahir who was the firstborn son of Bëor the Old, by no one else than Nóm, the Priest-King of Valmar, as a sign of the new royal dynasty's legitimacy. After that King Beren I had renounced the throne for himself and his descendants by abdicating, he took the ring with him here to northern Valinor. By changing the family name into Ladros, they avoided being found by enemies and managed to survive thanks to setting down here in the north. My Barahir, your grandfather, was a direct descendant of that royal dynasty, but Beren only saw what the family once had lost and desired to regain some form of influence and power.”

 

What the Greymantle family had offered, especially with Luthien not already being married or at least engaged. Even if their power were set in the fashion world, they were well known in media. If it had came out that Beren was a royal descendant… 

 

“ **_...dad was a real idiot for not understanding that sometimes, we humans should be grateful for what we already have and be satisfied with that instead of dreaming about things out of reach._ ** ” 

 

Emeldir looked sad at his comment, and for a good reason. 

 

“Aka why I could not understand why he had to fall for a modern city girl that would find Formenos a alien world. I tried to make him see the pros of marrying a local girl, but he insisted on only seeing the cons.” 

 

He carefully placed back the ring inside the box, and Emeldir closed it. 

 

“It is a unspoken tradition that only the new heir in the Ladros family is allowed to know about the ring, in order to avoid that it could be stolen or used in other illegal activities. Sixteen was the age of manhood in older times, so you are old enough to know about it. But with what your dad planned for his adult life, I did not feel it safe to tell him this secret from his own father. I could not bear the thought of meeting Barahir in the afterlife and tell him that our son had lost the ring which is the most important of his inheritage.” 

 

Dior could understand her. Sure, the ring could be sold on action to bring in money if a jewelers could identify the ring as the real historical item and not a copy made much later, but at the same time, it was a heirdom which symbolized the past. 

 

“Um...can you show me how to shoot with that pocket gun? I will be part of a group that will act as teenagers from the 16th century on Sunday during the history fair, and even if I will not be using the gun for real, I still want to train a little on how to hold it and such.”

 

That Emeldir thought to be a good idea, and she knew that the shooting gallery would be filled with other people that would train with guns. 

 

“Still, are you not a bit uncomfortable with a gun...given how Beren died?” 

 

For whatever reason, Dior felt annoyed by that. 

 

“It is as training for my work as a adult! I can not let his manner of death affect me in working life! What if I must use the gun in the national park, either to end the suffering of a animal or as self-defense, and I sabotage it all by not knowing how to use the gun?!” 

 

A very honest reason, indeed. Besides, as Dior also said, he had seen the security guards at the Greymantle summer house sometimes needing to use their guns to chase away an intruder from the property. There had even been one case where a burglar had been dangerously close to finding out about him, simply because the whole security system had been damaged by a unpredictable lightning strike that hit the electric fence. 

 

“I was only protected from being seen by that man, thanks to Sauron having stayed late that evening and had to try fixing the security system before my grandparents and mother arrived back home from that fancy dinner they had been out on…” Dior recalled, shuddering in horror at the mental image of how close it was to having him been revealed to the world ten years ago. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

At the same time, Fëanor was meeting up with some people he had not seen for a few months. While his father Finwë had never had any romance with Indis, the mother of Fingolfin and Finarfin, after that they both had lost a spouse, the three sons had found a friendship that lasted for life. 

 

“I am surprised that you were able to leave for a short vacation in the middle of prepare everything for the big trial with Doriath Beauty, Fingolfin.” 

 

“Anairë and my own kids almost kidnapped me, to be precise. Since Maeglin and Gil-galad will return to school in a few weeks, they wanted me to come along on the planned family holiday here in Formenos even if I have to return back to work in a few days,” Fingolfin responded as Finarfin showed up with their ordered cups of coffee on a tray. 

 

That logic was something Fëanor was very familiar after raising seven children of his own and having three grandchildren. Not wanting to speak of the trial that would be the focus of the media for weeks once it started, they instead chose to speak of their families. 

 

“Our mother Indis is starting to suffer from dementia, but that is not so surprising as she is in her eighties. It is only sad that she will not be able to watch little Celebrían grow up, as she did with Finduilas.” 

 

Finarfin's only daughter Galadriel had became a mother only half a year ago, but Finduilas had still been overjoyed over finally getting a cousin, as her youngest uncle Aegnor and his wife Andreth had not planned to have children in their marriage as neither one felt any such desire. Angrod and Eldalótë had tried for years with fertility treatment in the hope to defeating, but stopped then Eldalótë's body did not respond well to the treatments. As for Finrod and Amarië, well, their lives as  actors on stage often involved a long time away from home if they were part of a tour and they instead focused on teaching new talents for acting. 

 

Things was as usual in Fingolfin's side of the family, though it was noticeably more relaxing at family gatherings now when Turgon was in jail after being found guilty of trying to get rid of his brother-in-law Eöl though death as he did not find Eöl a fitting husband for Aredhel. As for Idril, she was a adult woman who had chosen to start her own life after finding out what her beloved father had tried to do and Elenwë had moved away to a different part of Valinor after choosing to divorce Turgon, as she could not stand the idea of remaining married to someone who tried to murder a member of his own family, all because he did not like that person. 

 

“I intend to retire after the trial. This case will be my last with the police. I want to be able to enjoy life when I am still healthy and not have to worry about my family for something that can happen when I'm out on patrol.”

 

Fingolfin did have a point. He was 63 years old, two years younger than his brother, and near retirement age anyway, so it was only natural that he had started to think of his life as a older man. 

 

“And Anairë can get in some extra money on her books for the next two decades if she just stays healthy and keeps her memory,” Finarfin joked, knowing that his sister-in-law earned a lot on the books she wrote. 

  
  


Soon they had to return to their families, but they did agree to meet again on the history fair that weekend. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three Wishes for Cinderella is a Czechoslovak/East German fairy-tale film from 1973. 
> 
> Atlantis: The Lost Empire came out in 2001, which is the current year in-story as well. Given the presence of genius people such as Fëanor (who feels that the modern world is changing too quickly for him), the early 21th century in this modern AU is a little more advanced than in RL. 
> 
> In canon Baran was the firstborn son of Bëor the Old, but in this AU he had a older brother named Barahir who died young and left him as the heir to their father


	27. Danger from the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A danger from Dior's past shows up

Celegorm was nervous. Two days ago, there had been a report about a murder on a older couple who had been found in the woods near the main road leading to Formenos, most likely done by Ar-Pharazôn in order to steal their car, their camping gear and the clothes of the husband, no doubt in order to disguise himself.           

 

“I will ask Dior to stay close, if he is seen by that lunatic…” 

 

As Luthien's secret son, cursed with having inherited a large part of her appearance, and being almost the same age as she had been when she had started her career as a idol singer… 

 

“Whoa!” Dior spoke out aloud, nearly tripping backwards by the force as he fired a shot, and Celegorm returned to the present, watching how the sixteen-year-old was trying to hit the target in the order end of the shooting gallery. 

 

After three days of training, Dior was slowly getting better control over the gun thanks to that Oromë had seen the teenager together with Emeldir at the shooting gallery and, being the main teacher in the class teaching about firearms and proper safety around them as well at the high school, immediately started showing him how to use a gun.  

 

“Once more,” Oromë ordered with his arms crossed over his chest. Dior was still nowhere close to getting what would count as a killing shot at a distance, but at least he had managed to start hitting the target now. 

 

“I think grandfather's gun are bit too heavy for me…” Dior muttered, feeling how his fingers was trembling a bit despite holding a steady firm around the gun with both hands. Granted, he was still growing due to being a teenager, but Barahir had been a grown adult with a different muscle strength than his much slender grandson. 

 

“Yeah, kid, you need a different type of gun unless you manages to build up your strength even more. But the training guns used at school, are always locked away during summer holidays in order to avoid that someone might be tempered to steal them. A good gun costs a good amount of money that young people of your age usually do not have,” Oromë did agreed as he nodded to Celegorm in satisfaction that his old pupil was keeping his promise to practice with both rifle and bow if one weapon did not work for any reason. 

 

“Did my dad take part of those classes as well?” Dior wondered, though it was not surprised to hear that Beren had not been the best student there twenty years ago. After all, it was a big difference between hunting wildlife and how to use a gun as a security guard. 

 

“But now you at least can be trusted to not shot yourself in the foot or some similar injury that ends up in the hospital. Many beginners believe themselves to be expects and finds out the truth the hard way that just because a bow is not a firearm, it is still a weapon designed to kill.” 

 

Against his silent protests, Celegorm had to listen on Oromë telling Dior how the then teenaged third son of Fëanor and Nerdanel somehow had shoot the arrow straight up in the air, and what has been sent up, naturally has to return down again due to the laws of gravity.  

 

“Had he not had such quick reaction, and also still wearing his bicycle helmet after arriving, he would have needed to see a doctor for the injury that could have resulted.”

 

“Really?!” Dior asked in surprise, unaware of the death glares Celegorm sent Oromë behind his back. Somehow, Celegorm wondered if this was how Fëanor might have felt whatever Mathan told his grandsons about something crazy their sire had done as a youth. Because it felt like Dior had started to view him as a father figure without really realizing it, since the teenager spent most time with him and he had not many positive male role figures around him before arriving to Formenos. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

On Saturday, the historical fair started. Many local craftsmen had come to sell their goods, such as items made of wood or some form of food, and there was many other amator actors outside Emeldir who wore historical clothing. 

 

“You look great, grandmother!” Dior expressed at seeing her dressed in the clothes of a peasant woman, yet somehow it suited her more to be dressed plainly than the luxurious clothes that a noblewoman would have worn. Besides, Formenos had been founded by people of low social rank, if you ignored that general Nelyafinwë had been a low-ranking noble at birth and lost those privileges in the events that had led to his self-chosen exile to northern Valinor for the rest of his life. 

 

“Thank you, dear. Someone have to remind visitors that the first settlers here was those who were simple soldiers and their families, nearly all who had a background of being peasants from birth.” 

 

Emeldir would act as a guide at the museum this weekend, where Finduilas and some others in a team of archaeologists would show some of the summer's findings up at the ruins of Himring. 

  
  


Dior wandered around, stopping first to see Celebrimbor working with his father at the big forge at the old market place. Fëanor had injured some fingers yesterday due to a mishap with the heavy hammer, and instead had gotten the task of selling finished items on the table in front of the forge entrance. 

 

“Hope that you get some of them sold during the fair!” Dior called over his shoulder, having spotted Nimloth not far away. 

 

When Dior came closer, he saw that Nimloth had to be dressed in a traditional style of her tribe, an gender-neutral hunting outfit made from animal skins. Nimloth was not a real hunter, but she knew basic things such as reading animal tracks on the ground and other signs that a hunter had to know. Part of basic survival skills, she explained, even allowing him to try holding the stone dagger she had in her belt. Just because this was the modern times, some old skills were still useful in their own way and who knew if there would be a situation where stone weapons might come in handy because the iron-made ones were rusty or something that made them useless. 

 

“It is good that the historical fair is happening this weekend so the tourists have something else to visit. You know Bloody Mary, that infamously bad-tempered she bear, right? She have been spotted around Himring with her cubs those few days, so lord Oromë and a few other hunters are kept busy by driving them away back to the steep falls.”

 

Right, Celegorm had said something like that this morning. Dior recalled the map over the national park, knowing that there was a area northwest with a lot of steep falls. Old legends even said that in the past, the local Silvan and Avari tribes had used that area to execute their criminals by throwing them down the steep cliffs. If they did not die directly at the landing, they would face an agonizing death because of their injuries or they would be starved to death. It was a dangerous place, and one where tourists were not allowed to be in. 

 

“I hope that she will be cooperative then, or at last as much as she can be, with that temper of hers.” 

 

Nimloth could not talk for long, but they did agree to meet at the entrance to the city and enjoy some light snacks together later. 

  
  


It turned out that Dior could help some locals there at the entrance to Formenos, when the wildlife aid center called his cellphone. A whole family of ducks and even a couple of young goose had somehow gotten lost on the way towards the 

nearest pond, and were in great danger from the cars on the road. 

 

“Did the ducklings get tired from the long walk all the way from the national park, you think?”

 

Now Dior could show how the past few months here in Formenos had changed him. Not only was he more durable and stronger, he knew now what to do in order to avoid that the mother duck flew off and leaving her babies behind. 

 

“Dior, can you tell that driver to drive onwards? He is blocking the traffic for those who will enter the city.”

 

One car, slightly older model, had stopped on the road. If the driver had no problem with his engine or that the gasoline had run out, he really should not stop there, as the whole “saving animals” scene right now was not for entertainment that people could watch. 

 

“Sir, it would be better if you drove into the city…” he requested, when the driver rolled down the window glass of the car in order to see better. 

 

“... _ Luthien? _ ”

 

The moment Dior heard the name of his mother, he got a bad feeling about the person. 

 

“Dior, get away! It is that escaped crim…!?” 

 

Then everything happened so fast. The car door was opened so the driver came out, and then a gun shot was fired. One of the other volunteers collapsed from being shot, the duck family shattering as another one fell to the ground. 

 

“ **_CELEGORM!! GRANDMOTHER!!_ ** ”

 

But he did not manage to run far. Dior felt a hand grab hold around his wrist, forcefully pulling him back, a third gun shot was fired against another car behind them, and he was pushed into the backseat of the car, Ar-Pharazôn locking the doors before driving off at full speed. 

 

“Dior!” 

  
  


The gunshots, however, was not silent even with the noise from the marketplace at the city center and Fingolfin had witnessed it all from a distance. 

 

“Damn you, Ar-Pharazôn!!” 

 

He sent a distress alarm to the police station here in Formenos, trying to see where the criminal was driving. Khamûl had also seen it all from atop a building, sending a signal to one of his fellow Nazgûl to try and block the route that Ar-Pharazôn likely intended. 

 

“Celegorm, get in here!” Fingolfin called at seeing the hunter arrive with his rifle, bidding him to join into his rented car. Two cars drove past them towards the southern entrance to Formenos, Emeldir in one and Khamûl in the other together with a unknown person. No big surprise that Emeldir reacted that way, she had already lost one family member thanks to the actions of Ar-Pharazôn and now it risked to happen a second time. 

 

“Oromë! Dior was just kidnapped by that escaped criminal, we will try and drive him towards the national park!” Celegorm almost yelled in his cellphone as Fingolfin joined the police cars out from the city. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

For all of that it mostly was a modern town, Formenos still held some form of secrets. Such as the massive blockage around the main roads to avoid that the city was snowbound in the winter, for example. Thanks to making use of modern technology and the alarm of Ar-Pharazôn kidnapping Dior, the main road were now blocked by a massive oak tree that had been felled just to avoid that but now had found a last usefulness. 

 

Instead, Ar-Pharazôn was forced to drive towards the national park, the police cars not far behind.   

 

“Fucking hell!” 

 

Ar-Pharazôn was not the most experienced car driver after 17 years in various mental hospital, and Dior had no intention to learn what the mentally unstable man intended to do with him. 

 

“No way in hell that I will let him harm me!” 

 

In the next moment, Emeldir showed up in high speed. Turning around sharply, she slammed her car into the one Ar-Pharazôn was driving. 

 

“Grandmother?!” 

 

She tried to force Ar-Pharazôn towards a a steeper path just at the tree line. And then another car joined her, doing the same on the other side. Khamûl raised the gun he held in both hands, aimed though the window and managed to shoot one of the front wheels. If Ar-Pharazôn could not drive due to there being no air in the car wheels, it could make it easier to catch him. 

 

“Fucking woman!” 

 

Ar-Pharazôn slammed the control, driving up to max speed and managed to get away from the two cars further up along the path. But the car was not made for bumpy roads in the wilderness, especially those who led towards a mountain. 

 

Despite the trouble to stay in balance, Dior realized that he had only one chance. The gun once owned by Barahir was in his inner jacket pocket, and he did his best to take aim. 

 

“You...what?!” 

 

Ar-Pharazôn was taken by the gun when he looked into the back mirror, and Dior shot into the front window. The large glass splinters rained down over the front seat, causing Ar-Pharazôn to lose control over the car. A second gun shot into the back door so it was unlocked, and Dior hurried to jump out, ignoring the bleeding lacerations in his face from the glass splinters from the front, just as the car drove into a large ash tree. 

 

“Ow, ow…”

 

Not the most comfortable landing, bit Dior knew that he had to get as far away as possible. A air-bag had saved Ar-Pharazôn from worse injuries, and the criminal tried to force the front door open so he could chase after the teenager. 

 

“ _ Celegorm...please help...Celegorm! _ ” Dior mentally pleaded in growing terror as he ran off into the bushes, still holding Barahir's old gun in one hand for self-defense, aiming for the old ruin of Himring at the top of the mountain. If he just could hide somewhere long enough for the park rangers and police to find them. If not, then...

 

“ **_DAD!! DAD!!_ ** ” Dior called out in desperation, hoping that someone else than Ar-Pharazôn could hear his screams as he kept running towards Himring. Dior did not know it due to his panic and need to get away from this danger that had already haunted him before his birth, but he was instinctively searching for the man who had became his father in all but name. 

 

He did not know that his fanatical calls for Celegorm had been heard by those who had remained around the old fortress even after death. The still present spirits of the father and seven sons who once had founded Formenos six hundred years ago. And that they instinctively reacted whatever there was some form of danger to a lost child or youth near the fortress that had once been their home in life. 

 

Those who were sensitive to the spirit world, would have heard the echo of galloping horses between the trees.

 

General Nelyafinwë and his seven sons had awoken again. 


	28. Past and present together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior escapes from danger, and the reveal of why Luthien killed herself

As the Silvan tribe got a messenger about that their help was needed in capturing a wanted criminal and undo a kidnapping, Námo could sense something all the way from the ruins of Himring. 

 

“Brother?” Nienna wondered, noticing how pale her oldest brother seemed for a moment.         

 

“The general and his sons are sensing danger to a innocent person around their home. They do not like it,” Námo managed to say in a weak voice, shivering slightly at what he sensed from the distance. He was not scared of the spirits, but knew that they could still be dangerous beyond the grave despite dying several hundred years ago. 

 

“Oh dear,  _ someone _ is going to find himself the newest victim of mother nature then, I am afraid,” Irmo added in without sounding sad at all, watching how some of the tribe's best hunters and warriors rode off to join the police in the national park, everyone carrying wooden shields on one arm. True, plain arrows and hunting bows made of wood and stone tips might not be that effective against modern firearms, but for a scenario for scaring people it was very useful. 

 

This would hardly be the first time a criminal found their end in what once had been the domain of general Nelyafinwë, either because because the police and park rangers were allowed to use their firearms or finding out the hard way that nature were not kind to those who had no idea how to wild animals or not having any survival skills at all. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Dior kept running towards the old ruins of the the fortress, hearing Ar-Pharazôn trying to follow after him. However, the difference in age and fitness had already started to shown itself: Dior was not only a lot more faster and agile due to being a teenager, he may not be a local but he had visited the national park enough many times during the summer with Celegorm and the rest of his foster family to have a rough guess on where he was. In contrast, Ar-Pharazôn was horribly out of shape because he had spent over a decade and a half in different mental hospital that also served as prisons, and those with some form of antisocial personality disorder was not exactly known for caring about the feelings of others. If he now really thought Dior to be Luthien in the same age twenty years ago, then Dior honestly did not want to find out how Ar-Pharazôn possibly could react at finding out that Dior was a male.   

 

“Must get upwards...the ruine!” 

 

He knew that it would be surrounded by a large electric fence to keep animals and unwanted people away, so hiding in the ruins was out of question, especially now when the the archaeologists had finished this summer's excavations and the fence was locked up. 

 

“Still...the old river that they used back then…!” 

 

Given that the first soldiers and defenders of Himring needed some method to get rid of waste and filth all the way up at the top of the mountain, it had been a logical idea to use the river there, building a cellar and a slide gate further down. Right now Dior's best plan was to hide in that old cellar, perhaps even trapping Ar-Pharazôn in there if he was lucky enough. 

 

In the distance, a faint echo of a hunting horn could be heard. 

  
  


Sure enough, Dior did not need to run much more before he saw the old staircase that led underground to that cellar. Hoping that the archaeologists would forgive him for entering the historical underground building due to the situation he was in, the teenager hurried down the stairs. 

 

“Stop running, Luthien!” 

 

Yes, that comment confirmed that Ar-Pharazôn had either no track of how many years that had passed since that concert, or did not want to imagine his late mother as a fellow mortal, able of aging and dying like anyone else. 

  
  


Whatever it was because of that the cellar was so old or something else, but the deeper that Dior got himself to the deepest part of the cellar, something felt strange. 

 

“ _ This is…? _ ” 

 

In a way his suspicions were partly confirmed when he came to the end of the stairs and into the very cellar itself. A lot of spiritual power was in there because its direct link to history, and for a brief moment Dior found himself watching the servants who once had been in chance of the rare wine bottles that general Nelyafinwë had gotten to the fortress though trade. 

 

“Stand still, foolish woman!”

 

The now angry voice of Ar-Pharazôn broke the illustration, sounded very annoyed by now and even angry over that Dior did not do as he wanted. Not wanting to take a risk, Dior pulled on the level to his left by mistake as he tried to grab something to not trip backwards. Only in the next moment, did he realize that it was a level to the trapdoor where empty barrels once had been dumped into the river to be sent down to the original settlement of Formenos. The surprise as he slipped backwards, caused Dior to also drop the gun from Barahir on the floor. 

 

“You little vixen!” Ar-Pharazôn snarled just as Dior vanished into the waters below the trapdoor. The criminal fired a shot before the trapdoor was locked again.

  
  


Breaking the surface, Dior gasped for breath in the current as it dragged him along, feeling how cold the water in the river was even in the late summer weather. A good explanation for why it was forbidden to bathe so high up on the mountain, the temperature caused a human body to react. On top of everything it burned like fire in the wound in his upper arm, where the shot had hit. 

 

“ **Dad! Dad!** ” 

 

Still, he dared to try calling out for Celegorm even as the river dragged him downstream, hoping that Ar-Pharazôn would not be able to follow after him so easy on the river bank. It was too difficult for swimming, but Dior understood that if he just could climb up on the opposite river bank at a spot where Ar-Pharazôn was unable to aim the gun at him… 

 

“ **_Dior!_ ** ”    

 

It was Nimloth who showed herself from a tree branch above the river, having joined with the hunters and warriors of her tribe on the way to join the police and pank rangers. 

 

“Officer Ringil! On the other river bank!” Nimloth called as one of the hunters used his hunting horn as signal on that they had found Ar-Pharazôn and Dior, sending the alarm across the nearest forest part. Shouts and horses coming closer.   

 

Fingolfin arrived on a borrowed horse from Edoras riding center, joined with Éowyn and some other riding police officers from Formenos. Gun shots aimed at Ar-Pharazôn, who found himself in great need of hiding among the bushes as he ran along the river.  

 

“Get Dior out of the water as quickly as possible! People have gotten pneumonia from falling into the river here!”

 

They had to act quickly. Too long in the water, and Dior risked to drown because his body became more and more cold in the water. The strong current did not help either, and it was many times that Dior was pulled below the surface in the wild water.  

 

“Nimloth, close the slide gate!”

 

As she did so, with some minor struggles as she was of a lighter body build than those who once had been in change of opening and closing the heavy slide gate, Dior went below the surface again since the slide gate prevented him from being dragged more downstream, but also raised the risk of the that he drowned as it was dangerously close to a whirlpool. This time Nimloth did not did not hesitate, and she dived into the water stream. 

 

“Don't talk! Focus on breathing!” Nimloth ordered as soon as she returned to the surface, supporting the semi unconscious Dior as he coughed up water that he had swallowed before she had grabbed hold of him. 

 

“Keep your unclean hands off Luthien, you savage! Just like that mongrel…”

 

But Ar-Pharazôn never got to fire a new shot aimed at Nimloth as she tried to pull Dior out of the freezing water. For now Celegorm showed up behind him, having a such furious face that it looked like like the silver-blond hunter was ready to actually kill with his bare hands. And that was almost exactly what he did, by slamming his borrowed wooden shield into Ar-Pharazôn's face like it had been a cudgel so the escaped criminal lost his balance from the strike. And then the moment as Ar-Pharazôn has fallen to the ground, stunned by the blow and not quite ready for defending himself with the gun, Celegorm knelt over so he could trap Ar-Pharazôn's upper body between his legs and keep bashing Ar-Pharazôn with the shield straight in the face. 

 

“ **_DON'T YOU DARE TO TOUCH MY SON, FUCKING ORGE!!!_ ** ”

 

Perhaps it was caused by the heat of the moment, perhaps it simply was a reaction on seeing how Dior had been in danger again thanks to who his maternal family or an instinct from a past life to defend a vulnerable person. But Celegorm did not stop slamming down the shield over and over again, Ar-Pharazôn screaming in pain as his nose was broken and his mouth started to bleed.  

 

Anyway, Dior was enough conscious to hear what Celegorm shouted, and in his fogged mind two words echoed again and again: 

 

_ My son. My son. My son.  _

 

The blurry image of two persons pulling Celegorm off Ar-Pharazôn under his fierce protests, other voices whose words he did not hear, a car arriving and Emeldir coming out from it… 

 

And then Dior went unconscious, his lowered body temperature from the freezing river water along with several impact injuries from when he had jumped out from the stolen car Ar-Pharazôn had been driving right before the crash into the tree and blood loss from the wound in his arm had done a lot of damage on him. 

 

“Celegorm! Get into my car and help Nimloth try to avoid that Dior remains unconscious for long! We need to get him down to the ambulance at the entrance to the national park!” Emeldir ordered. 

 

“Go! We will deal with this ogre, as you so kindly named him.” 

 

Oromë pushed Celegorm in the back to make him move towards the car. The older hunter knew that the female bear they had named Bloody Mary and her two cubs would be somewhere in the area. Since Ar-Pharazôn was too dangerous to be allowed to live, he would have his last moments in life to find out the hard way why very protective mothers was called mama bears. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

At Formenos hospital: 

 

Celegorm and Emeldir was waiting together outside a examination room, Nimloth having offered to being some coffee for all three from the cafeteria. The doctors had needed to stabilize Dior's body temperature before doing anything else. But they had gotten to know that he had woken up at least twice, and had gotten painkillers so he could be awake for a while.  

 

“Celegorm….we need to talk about Dior's future. I know that the main goal with foster care is to reunite children with biological parents or other relatives, and while I could take him once our kinship is proven...I am already 63 years old, widowed and with no other children. How could it be in ten years with my health? Fifteen? Twenty? I do not doubt that he as a adult would be willing to take care of me in old age, but he have never known the children of my siblings, the cousins to Beren, and their own children, who are his second-cousins, is rather doubtful to have a close contact with him for various reasons.”

 

Celegorm understood the unspoken words. Emeldir feared that Dior would not have any close relatives left to help him in life, once she had joined Barahir and Beren in the afterlife. 

 

“An open adoption, and you getting visiting rights along with knowing that he will not vanish from your life again?” he asked, hands in front of his mouth as his elbows was on the knees due to his sitting position. She nodded, a confirmation that it was the exact idea. 

 

“Excuse me, Dior Gray can receive visitors for a short while now. Do not stay too long, he is still affected by what happened before today and will get a sedative later this evening in order to be able to sleep through the night.” 

  
  


While Dior had gotten a healthy suntan so far during summer, the earlier blood loss made him seem paler than normally when Celegorm, Emeldir and Nimloth came inside his room. A compress on the cheek and forehead showed where the lacerations from the broken car window had hit, there was some minor bruises on the face and arms, and there was a bandage around his chest that hinted to some broken ribs. It was a pure wonder that he had not broken a arm or a leg in the river, but the doctors said that it likely was because his body build was a slender one and that he likely had been floating in the water as a result.   

 

“They gave me some heated blankets, so I am not freezing anymore…” Dior managed to say when they got some chairs to sit down on. 

 

“Ar-Pharazôn will not leave the national park alive. It is a unspoken rule that if a criminal is found in the park, the park rangers have the right to shot that person. And it would not be that strange if he ends up running into Blood Mary as well, bears have very powerful paws.” 

 

Dior did not ask what would be written down as the official cause of death: chased by a very protective mother bear who thought her cubs was getting attacked, maimed by her claws right as the hunters arrived on the scene and Ar-Pharazôn gotten shot by a stray bullet as they struggled to get her away from him. 

 

“But will that female bear need to be shot for attacking a human?” 

 

“Not if he lacks common sense about how wild animals acts around their offspring and she escapes from the scene in a manner that makes it hard to tell which bear it was. Blood Mary is hardly the only bear mother in Himring this year with cubs that she is very protective of,” Nimloth explained, this was a explanation already used in the past that would not bring any prosecution against the national park. Because, if the park rangers did not know which bear that had “attacked” Ar-Pharazôn, shooting all the bears in the national park until the right one was found, would only be a waste of time and bullets. 

 

A knocking on the door, and Fingolfin came inside. 

 

“Hello. I will not stay for many minutes, I just wanted to check on you, Dior, before I call my own police chief about what happened here today.” 

 

He only wanted Dior to tell what Ar-Pharazôn had said and done with him there in the national park, using a tape recorder to get a testimony. The teenager would be injured for the coming weeks and they did not want him to show himself in a place with cameras where someone else might realize who he looked like. 

Once that was done, Dior requested Nienna Fëanturi to come, for he felt that her skills in psychotherapy was needed. He was greatly traumatized by what had happened, and wanted some of that fear removed. 

  
  


Nienna did not take long to arrive, she had already been there with her brothers to help another patient in the hospital. 

 

“Do you want me to hold your hand, as we did last time?” 

 

She did not have the same spiritual power as her older twin brothers, but instead blessed with a gift of compassion and ability to get people to open up about what weighed on them in soul and heart. 

 

However, as she did so, both Nienna and Dior suddenly became aware of a different presence in the room. A female presence, filled with wrath. 

 

“ _ Why did you not drink the licorice tea, Dior? _ ” 

 

As Dior's eyes widened in fear, and began to tremble at the sound of the female voice, Nienna realized that this was something dangerous spiritually. 

 

“Brother! Brother, a wraith is in here!” 

 

It did not matter which brother she called on, the two Fëanturi shaman twins and Celegorm stormed inside. 

 

“Luthien?!” 

 

Indeed it was her, and there was little fair about her right now. Námo quickly held up the eight-rayed star of general Nelyafinwë in front of Dior so the wraith could not reach him, the symbol had proven itself to be a very powerful talisman over the past centuries, mainly thanks to that the general and his seven sons were still around as spirits in Himring. 

 

“ _ You should have followed me! You dared to get a life without me, without the protection I offered you from those who wants to harm you! _ ” 

 

Fingolfin had also arrived, and at hearing what the wraith said thanks to Námo and Irmo using their spiritual powers to trap her, one last missing piece in the mystery behind her suicide was revealed: 

 

“Dior...did she serve you the same licorice tea as she used to take that overdose of sleeping pills with?” 

 

“I told her over and over again over my childhood that I hated licorice, and yet she never listened! I told her that evening that I did not want that tea! She found my handwritten notes about high schools that also was boarding schools, far away from Menegroth City! That argument...I told her that her so called motherly love for me was like a chain, which suffocated me because she never intended to let me live my own life! That arranged marriage was planned behind my back so I would not be able to choose my life partner myself, and we would live our whole life in the summer house under her eyes after the wedding!” Dior cried out in terror at the wraith of Luthien letting out a inhuman noise, clinging to Celegorm in a desperate plea for protection. 

 

Fingolfin realized what must have happened, if Dior had gotten the tea served on his own room, where Luthien could not make him drink, he must have poured it out in the flower pots in the window. A such simple action, based on that he hated licorice, had saved his life in what otherwise would have been a murder-suicide, with him as the murder victim because Luthien could never accept that she would not remain the most important person in her son's life.

 

“Dior, calm down!” 

 

It was the spiritual power in the room, and for a few moment Dior looked like one of his past lives where he had been a woman. The young teenage girl, who had been drowned to make it seem like she was the mother of the illegitimate child her older sister had been pregnant with. 

 

“ _ Please do not hurt me...Luisa! _ ” 

 

The name of the sister who Dior had so often been called inferior to in that past life. And now Luthien changed sharpe, into a woman no older than her late teens at most, dressed in what seemed to be a 1880s dress of fine fabrics. 

 

“ _ How shameful that our parents were cursed with a second daughter that lacks in both appearance and social manners, for all the schooling that you do! You will never catch a suitor, with that plain face _ !” 

 

But Celegorm had a good guess on what one of Luthien's other previous lives could be. Taking a step forwards so he changed into the shape of Tyelkormo, he reached out and took a stranglehold with a hand around her neck.

 

“You never changed, have you,  _ Lucilla? _ Everything had to be focused on you, all the attention from the parents, people around you, never to be given to those you saw as below yourself!” 

 

Now it was a woman in wealthy early 16th century clothes, who tried to get free from the hand that threatened to strangle her. But the black hair, similar to Luthien, was impossible to miss. The infamous southern wife of Tyelkormo had been a past life of Luthien, as well the older sister of Dior's past life.    

 

“ _ He is my son! No one shall take him from me! Only I can protect him! _ ” 

 

Whatever logic by which Luthien tried to give a justification about her attempted murder of her own son, it was far too late. She was dead, a mere spirit, while Dior was still living and out of her reach. 

 

Behind Celegorm, Námo had created a gateway into the spirit world, one he rarely used outside the banishment of evil spirits. It was well past time that Dior got free from his birth mother's shadow. 

 

“ **_Since you seem to be so self-centered and used to living a comfortable life whatever you are reborn in a new life...a few lifetimes in extreme poverty across the world should learn you a much needed lesson about not taking things for granted!_ ** ” 

 

Námo and Irmo linked their talismans together, forcing the spirit of Luthien away into the gateway. Her protests was drowned as it was closed, and the hospital room was free from whatever spiritual presence that could be left behind. 

 

“Is she….gone?” Dior asked, looked as exhausted as he must feel mentally. This day had been horrible for him. 

 

“Yes, she is gone. She will never show up again,” Celegorm promised, gently hugging the teenager as he cried in relief. 

 

“Stay with Dior and Nienna, Celegorm. I need to make a report about the motive to why Luthien chose to end her life,” Fingolfin ordered. He knew that the report was unlikely to be revealed or taken as a matter of fact, since very few people knew of Dior's existence, as well that not many in the modern world would believe a confession from a spirit, but the mystery to her motive had been solved. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Dior was released from the hospital the next afternoon, with strict orders to stay at home and rest until that the schools in Formenos began the fall term. It would be several weeks before he had recovered fully from the injures. 

 

“Well, there went the plans to go and see Finrod Felagund on stage in Nargothrond this Wednesday before he return to the south,” Emeldir said with some regret as she followed her grandson out, Celegorm supporting Dior for some balance. 

 

“We can try next time he is on a tour with a play on stage, right, Celegorm?” 

 

The hunter nodded, there was a lot of things that Dior could do with the whole family again when he had recovered. 

  
  


Two weeks later, the trial of Doriath Beauty happened. The once so powerful fashion and beauty company was lost against all the evidence and testimony against them. The remaining part of the Greymantle wealth was used as compensation to the parents who had lost their children among the murdered models, the staff got long sentences in prison, many with no chance of freedom again unless they died. 

 

“Officer Ringil said that because my maternal grandmother have lost all her wealth, she can no longer afford the the care of that particular nursing home and will live the rest of her life in a normal retirement home. When she dies, her burial will be taken care of by a charitable institution,” Dior commented when the evening news revealed what had happened with the now no longer existing beauty company. 

 

“Good. No need to bother about her. She made this bed along with her husband and daughter, and now she faces the unpleasant results of their actions,” Celegorm muttered from the other end of the sofa before switching channel to the animal and nature channel so Dior could watch something more fun. Huan raised his head at the motion, before going back to sleep. 

 

Tomorrow was the first day of high school for Dior and he needed to sleep properly so he had lots of energy for it.  

 


	29. To be a family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dior's first term at high school, and the road to adoption

For all of that he had been homeschooled in the past, Dior managed his first day at high school rather well. Since Maglor had informed his teaching colleagues about what had happened to him a few weeks ago, Dior would not need to take part of the PE classes until that his broken ribs and other impact injuries had healed fully.       

 

Still, Haleth Haladin, one of the three PE teachers for the high school students, did not let him escape that freely from the lessons: 

 

“A good body strength and quick reactions can be very useful in your chosen occupation, so do not become careless with exercise, kid!” 

 

Rather than letting Dior try to lift anything that could cause new pain from his ribs, she instead had him train on to be able to duck quickly, in the manner of kicking and throwing large-sized foam balls at him while Dior stood with his back against one of the thick mattresses that were lined up against the walls of the gym. 

  
  


When Celebrimbor and some of his other school-aged friends met Dior at lunch time afterwards, in the part of the the dining room that was was closed off for the students with various food allergies, he did agree that Haleth was strict but fair. 

 

“She is of the belief that children and teenagers have to be kept in shape through exercise that is fun, or they risk a bad health as adults.” 

 

Dior nodded as he started to eat on the school lunch with red beet and goat cheese salad, mashed potatoes and boiled chicken in a herb sauce, recalling what Celegorm had said about why there was no fast-food restaurants in Formenos earlier this summer. 

 

“Well, I am trying my best to remove myself as far as I can from what my future could have been, had I not ended up in foster care. It is my life and my choices to do as I want.” 

 

Soon lessons was starting for the afternoon, and they had to leave the dining room. 

  
  


To his own surprise, it took not take many days at the school before Dior started to reach out to other people in his classes. Simple requests, a question here and there, sometimes helping out if he could do so. Dior's social skills was not yet perfect, and he was not a social butterfly that everyone could get along with, but it was far better than when he had first arrived to Formenos. 

 

“Someone named Túrin Turambar did allow Ar-Pharazôn to be free on what was supposed to be a transport between two mental hospitals?” 

 

That was the latest news on media, about how Ar-Pharazôn had managed to escape. Of course it was talked about in the school yard between the older students when they did not have lessons. 

 

“Apparently that fool wanted to prove himself a hero by capturing that madman, but failed to make a good plan for it. He have paid for that dangerous stunt by being sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of pardon before the sentence ends,” Gwindor explained, as he and Finduilas was in the high school to help the teachers give the new students some extra information on how they would act in case a storm came to Formenos while it was still school time. 

 

Was it only his imagination, Dior wondered, or did Finduilas seem oddly pleased at those news? Was it that stalker she had once mentioned in passing, and now did not have to worry about him following her to Formenos? 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

One month later, in mid-September, Emeldir and Dior did spend a weekend in Nargothrond together to strengthen their bond as grandparent and grandchild. As they had checked in on the hotel and unpacked their bags that Friday evening before eating dinner with her siblings and their descendants on a family restaurang, Dior could see why his grandmother was not fond of the idea of leaving Formenos. 

 

Her two older siblings were nice, yes, but the atmosphere could not be anymore awkward between the three older adults, as they spoke as little as possible. They had seen it as Emeldir choosing her work and married family over the needs of her own parents since she once had been the viewed as the most likely sibling to take care of their parents in old age, a burden her older siblings had hoped to dump on her out of their own comfort, which had led to several arguments in the past. 

 

“Beren had to leave just one child behind, huh? What a slacker, could he not have tried a little more to give you more grandchildren at least?” 

 

Ok, that comment was pretty insensitive, as Dior had learned from Emeldir that she had suffered from ovulatory problems all the way back from her adolescence and that had made it difficult for her to become pregnant, and not helped by that Barahir often had been away for weeks in the military. Her sole pregnancy which had resulted in Beren, had almost been a miracle thanks to a very good timing once when Barahir had a longer vacation over the summer. 

 

“I am afraid that we do not know if my father had any other girlfriend outside the one who carried me. After all, how many girlfriends would he manage to have over three years, if he was very busy with work in order to pay his rent and died when she was four months along with me?” Dior said in a blunt manner picked up from Celegorm. He also used father instead of dad on purpose, to indirectly show Emeldir that Celegorm had replaced Beren as his dad in basically everything except biology. She said nothing, only hid a understanding smile behind the cup of fruit tea. 

  
  


Finally they could return to the hotel. The family meeting could not be called a success, for various reasons, but at least Dior had gotten to know some of his distant relatives. 

 

Emeldir sighed deeply as she sat down on her bed in one corner of the room. 

 

“Dior, when you were in the hospital for treatment after being in the river, I came to realize something.” 

 

He stopped in the middle of making himself finished for the night, worried for a moment of what she might mean. 

 

“You are not ill in some manner, I hope?” 

 

Emeldir was still only 63 years, but some age-related diseases could strike when you least expected it to happen. Like the stroke Melian had suffered a year ago, and the fatal heart attack Thingol had gotten little over three years ago. 

 

“No, no, I am in perfect health for my age outside the stress with my old father and some things at work! Rather, it have to with your future.” 

 

As Emeldir told her grandson what she had realized at the hospital, Dior had to agree with her. With no existing uncles or aunts as siblings to Beren, which naturally resulted in that he had no first-cousins. And Luthien had been a only child as well, which left Thingol's now deceased younger brother and that man descendants as Dior's closest relatives in the Greymantle family. Not exactly what anyone would call close relatives. Even if Dior married as a adult, he was not the type who married as soon as he was of legal age because of various reasons. 

 

“You...want Celegorm to **_adopt_ ** me?”

 

Of course, during the summer Dior had gotten a chance to do research about how different families could be outside a traditional family, and nowadays there was nothing that could prevent a person from becoming a single parent though adoption. 

 

“Yes. Not only would that give you a stable family that is nothing like your maternal family, you would also be able to stay with a family you have gotten to know since becoming their foster son and remain here in Formenos as you would like. Also, I would be able to visit you with the knowledge that you were in safe hands should anything happen to me.” 

 

He could see all the reasons why. Celegorm was far more responsible than what Beren ever had been, mainly because he had grown up in a large family where he knew the importance of different kinds of responsibilities and avoided dying at a young age. And with Celegorm being 23 years older than Dior, that made him 40 years old this passed August, an age where it was not unusual to be a father. No one would find it weird if he did adopt a teenager who could be young enough to be his own biological son, had things been different. 

 

“I….I have always fantasized about a different family, and how it would be to have a dad in my life…”

 

Dior found it hard to explain, not really sure how he felt right now. The memories of how his maternal family and childhood was a such contrast to his current life, the lack of someone who could act as a father figure since Thingol ignored his grandson and the few male servants were not allowed inside the summer house.  

 

Celegorm had not needed to drive all the way to Nargothrond, for three long hours in late evening, just to pick him up after that event with the peanuts on the train, yet he had still done it despite having only spoken to Dior a few times on the phone, with only one look at him though the laptop camera. 

 

“You do not need to give an answer right away. We wanted you to know about it first, and then there is all this with the paperwork and such.” 

 

Foster care adoption meant that the foster youth had to spend about six months in a foster home before adoption was possible. Dior would not have a new family at his 17th birthday, but around Christmas or New Year at the latest, it was a chance that he could have a new parent and a extended family. 

  
  


Later that night, despite how late it was, Dior called Celegorm on his cellphone, hiding in the bathroom in order to allow Emeldir to keep sleeping without him waking her up by mistake.

 

“Celegorm?” Dior asked in a very emotional voice, “I...no, we...need to talk about what grandmother told me this evening.”

 

It was nearly midnight when Dior came out from the bathroom again, but he felt a lot better after the talk with Celegorm. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Autumn passed by as it did in the north of Valinor, summer warmth leaving place for cooler weather and different colours on the leaves in the forests. This was one part of the unspoken beauty of the national park called Himring, how it could seem so bewitching beautiful in the half-year that was the warm one, only to become merciless in the cold season, the months with winter cold, snow and darkness. Some people flat out said that Himring were like a woman, stunning beautiful to seduce people by nature in summer, only to show her darker side by trapping them in the north during the winter.  

  
  


Over the autumn months when Dior was in school, social workers came to see whatever Celegorm would be a good adoption parent. Thankfully in late October it ended with him reassessed and approved for that task

  
  


On the 8th November, his 17th birthday, Dior woke up from a strange dream. It had been rather blurry, but he could somehow recall the persons in it. People who had been dead for a very long time, yet somehow was still present. 

 

“Grandmother did say that she is a descendant of Tyelkormo's younger daughter from that ill-fated marriage with his southern wife, and that it is not unheard of that it sometimes feels like those descendants are dreaming of that time…” 

 

It had felt so real, somehow. Tyelkormo, who had been the most ferocious among the brothers to their enemies as he was more of a free spirit than the others, yet still able of a very deep love and loyalty to his family. The feeling of him gently dragging Dior along like how he really had been able to sensing how Dior was nervous around unfamiliar people, the beauty of the winter landscape… 

 

Did the spirits try to take care of their descendants, once they returned to Formenos without knowing that this was where their origins began? An unknown link though the shared blood across the centuries?

 

“ **_HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!_ ** ”

 

His thoughts was interrupted by several voices as the door to his room was opened. His whole foster family had gathered despite it being so early in the morning on a Saturday. 

 

“Good morning, everyone…” Dior smiled, sitting up once the surprise had left him.  

 

“Get up, Dior! There is a lot of gifts awaiting to be opened by you!” Elros commented, which made a smiling Maglor ask his oldest son if it was tasting the birthday cake he actually wanted, and no one was surprised by Elros trying to deny it. 

 

“Here, the first gifts of the day,” Maedhros said, giving Dior some wrapped boxes to open. The newest book in  _ the Hunter  _ series, with a autograph on the title page, a beautifully crafted owl with raised wings made from bronze, a box with all his favorite chocolate. 

 

“Thank you…”

 

How long had it been since he last had gotten any meaningful gifts like this? As a child, maybe? The memories of how Luthien had often gifted him things that was more of her own taste, or what she thought that he liked instead of just asking him openly. The internal disappointments, as he was unable to protest or request to change the gifts into something he actually wanted. 

 

“Alright, let Dior take a shower and dress so we can finish everything needed for breakfast.”

  
  


Near the end of the breakfast, with his favorite thick pancakes, french toast, freshly baked scones and tea, Mahtan and his wife Celuwen showed up in the front door. 

 

“Good morning on this fine day, everyone. Emeldir will come soon, Dior, she needed to fix something first before arriving.” 

 

For all of that he simply was the current foster child of their daughter and son-in-law, the older couple had always treated him like he had been one of their great-grandchildren. For him, starved on kind words and kindness from Thingol and Melian, it had been like a healing balm in many ways. 

 

“Here, we thought that this might be nice for the cooler season that is about to come.” 

 

Dior unwrapped the gift to find an home-made set of woolen cap, scarf and mittens knitted from the same mango-coloured yarn. 

 

“Thank you, it was a lovely colour you chose. It is gonna be a nice set of colour now in winter.” 

 

The doorbell rang, and Emeldir came inside, followed by some of his shared friends with Celebrimbor. 

 

“Happy birthday, Dior. I have no idea what teenage boys nowadays likes to get as gifts so I took a safe choice and think this might be fun for you over the Christmas holiday. And you may want to choose which person you want to go with,” Emeldir smiled warmly and handed him a wrapped booklet. Her gift was a set of ten cinema tickets. to be used on which future movies he wanted to watch in the coming 12 months. 

 

“Oh my! You are joking!” 

 

Nimloth had given him that kind of soft animal for young children, only that she had personally crafted this one out of fabric and it did look very much alike one particular young female fox cub from his first days at the wildlife aid center.

 

“It is Feisty Girl!” Nimloth grinned, showing the hole in the neck so the animal could be acting like a hand doll with its upper able to open and close, pretending to try and bite Dior's hand as he laughed. From Finduilas and Gwindor, he got a history book about the local mythology among the Silvans and Avari clans, and Narvi gave him a book with information about the Eastern Sultanate's history and culture. Khamûl had been unable to come due to some important errand for the museum, but Emeldir still brought along his gift to Dior: the currently four books in the Harry Potter book serie, which the other youngsters said to be most-read books among his age group. 

 

“Time for the cake!” 

 

A hedgehog cake made by chocolate, which was almost too cute to cut up and eat. All in all, together with family and friends, with gifts that was actually meaningful for once it was a far better birthday than what Dior had in many years. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

As far as Dior knew, his first term in high school ended well. There had been a few times when someone had tried to bully him, but his self-confidence was vastly different from when he came to Formenos and while Dior did stay out of fights, he proved himself to have a sharp tongue. He tried to not belittle people, but he knew the power of carefully chosen words from Sauron who once had given him a few tips on how he could defend himself against whatever Thingol was going to aim at him. 

 

On the last school day before Christmas, Headmaster Gandalf Grey held a speech to the gathered students, reminding them to stay out of trouble during the holidays because, while the teachers did not hold any power outside the school area, they were still adults and perfectly able of spotting students getting into trouble. 

 

“Well, there we will have holidays until the fifth of January, Dior. Is there anything you plan to do today now after the ceremony at school?” Celebrimbor wondered as the students started to leave the meeting hall. 

 

“I promised Nimloth to be with her toway as her tribe celebrates the Winter solstice. She said that there would be some story tellings again, too, so Celegorm promised to get me home this evening.” 

  
  


It was a pleasant celebration despite the winter cold and snow outside, for that seemed to give the whole event something magical to see. 

 

“It may be the modern age now, but some things never changes across the centuries.” 

 

Then Nimloth surprised Dior by kissing him, just in time for Celegorm to show up with his jeep. 

 

“Oi! No more than that before you both are of age, thank you! I do not want to become a grandfather yet for a few years!” he called in a joking manner, and Dior blushed even harder when he realized the deeper meaning of what the hunter had said. Nimloth only laughed, and promised to visit him on Boxing Day because she would spend the coming days here in her home with her family. 

  
  


For all of that Dior was less scared of anything that was could be tied to sexuality now, he still protested as Celegorm teased him on the way back home, Huan joining in with a happy bark once in a while since the Irish Wolfhound likely thought it all to be nothing worrying.  

 

“Celegorm! There is a important mail waiting for you on the table!” Nerdanel called from the kitchen, unable to leave the bread dough alone due to not wanting Huan to steal it and risk getting a stomach ache. Based on the noise coming from the cellar despite a closed door, Fëanor was down in his private hobby room to fix the last ones of the homemade christmas gifts to their sons, daughters-in-law and grandsons.

 

The Family Court in Nargothrond, Celegorm saw on the stamp in the front. He had spent some money to get the full copy of an adoption certificate, wanting it as proof. It was the moment of truth. Had his application for an adoption order been successful or not? There was only one way to find out, and he opened the letter:  

 

_ Certificate of Adoption _

 

_ This is to Certify that  _

 

**_Dior E. Grey_ **

 

_ has been formally adopted  _

 

_ Into the  _ **_Nos Feanor family_ **

 

By  **_Celegorm T. T. Nos Feanor_ **

 

_ On this 9th Day of December 2001 _

 

The adoption had been successful, for all of that Celegorm could not take it in at first. Without knowing about it, Dior had became part of his adopted family formally a month after after his birthday. And given how many families that tried to get the adoption finished before the Christmas holidays along with all the Christmas cards and everything else that people tried to get posted before Christmas Eve, it must have taken some extra days for this adoption certificate to arrive here. 

 

“Dior? You need to look at this.” 

 

The teenager said nothing at first, only started at the certificate as if it could vanish like air between his fingers if he looked away. Then he started to cry, and not surprising, this was a very emotional moment.

 

“Mom? Call everyone of my brother to come over here and bring food with them, we will have a feast tonight to celebrate those news!” Celegorm requested with a smile over his shoulder as he hugged Dior close.  

 

“And Emeldir!” Nerdanel called back, having guessed why her third son and new grandson reacted on the letter as they did. 

 

The adoption was the last step for Dior to be free from his past, and embrace the future with much better hope than before. As it was an open adoption, Emeldir would be able to still keep in contact with her grandson, and he was now part of a loving family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emeldir have a rather estranged relationship with her two siblings as she did not want to take the role of being the main caretaker for their ageing parents simply for being the youngest, and moved away to Formenos in order to put some distance from her family
> 
> I am not mentioning the name of Thingol's younger brother, as I intend for Olwë and the in-canon Teleri royal family to not be related to the Greymantle family in this AU. It is also a indirect symbol of that Dior have never met any of those people face to face in the past, he only knows them as a set of names in the family tree and they have no idea of that Luthien had a child out of wedlock, as Thingol claimed that Luthien's pregnancy actually was a illness that left her with severely limited ability for successful future pregnancies. Officially Luthien refused every suitor with this as the reason to refuse marriage when she in reality wanted to hide Dior away
> 
> The first four Harry Potter books came out in the years 1997 to 2000, so with this story being set in 2001, it would have been two years left before Order of the Phoenix came out just like in RL


	30. The hunter's son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a adult, Dior's life looks far different than as a teenager

Late summer of year 2021; Himring national park:    

 

The park rangers was chasing after a group of tourists that had proved a horrible lack of common sense around wildlife, when they had been spotted trying to take selfies with the baby animals or even take them with them to become pets. Which, naturally, the the animal mothers had not liked at all when they had found out what happened when the tourists used food to distract the mothers. 

 

“Bloody fools! Wildlife is nothing like domestic pets!” Éomer cursed, having bound a few of the tourists with some help of the park rangers, after seeing them get bitten by the fox kits as proof of that they were not at all used to human contact like kittens or puppies, but a few of the tourists was now getting chased by a really upset moose cow for having touched her calf.  

 

“Elboron! Elfwine! Cut them off there from what they hope to be a escape path!” Faramir ordered to his teenage son and the son of Éomer and his wife Lothíriel, who was currently doing a test to see if they would be suitable as park rangers in the future.  

 

“Yes, uncle!”

 

“At once, dad!” 

 

The two teenagers were of a lighter body build and weight than the adults, allowing their horses to run ahead of the others. A few shapes in the trees above, running along wooden bridges between the trees instead of jumping from one branch to another, told them that the local Avari and Silvan hunters had also been notified of what had happened. 

 

A device of trapping was set of from above, trapping the angry moose in a horseshoe-shaped trap which was strong enough to make her stop chasing the two female tourist. She would free herself if she only found the entrance, and calmed down a little bit. 

  
  


“How can baby foxes be that cute and yet so quick to attack….ah!” 

 

One of the two women stopped running all suddenly at seeing something not far off. It was a fawn, still carrying those white spots as a sign of being born this year. 

 

“Awww, so cute…” 

 

Whatever of poor survival instincts or simple curiosity, the fawn remained still as she touched it. Then, a shot was fired from the trees above, killing the fawn in front of the two women and someone jumped down from the trees on the ground. Not all his clothes was the traditional hunting clothes from the local tribes, yet he still wore his hair in a simple ponytail as it was shoulder length. 

 

“ **_Congratulations, you just forced me to make the fawn join its ancestors because you failed to listen to the tour guide about that human scent on baby animals will really make them become abandoned by their mothers._ ** ” 

 

It was Dior, now a fully grown adult on 36 years of age. He had never quite lost the androgynous appearance of his youth even after becoming slightly more masculine as a adult, and as a result the two female tourists was temporary stunned by him. A perfect distraction, since Elboron and Elfwine quickly set them in handcuffs from the back. 

 

“Interference with the wildlife without permission is illegal, as well trying to sneak out baby animals to make them into pets. That makes two fines for you to pay to the national park, along with the bill from the hospital to check that those fox kits had no rabies or parasites,” Elboron smiled in what seemed to be a friendly smile but in reality promised something far worse. 

 

“Rabies?!” 

“Parasites!?” 

 

That made it easier for the park rangers to take all the arrested tourists away and brought back to Formenos to be sent into a few holding cells at the police station. Whatever they had planned, getting two fines for disobeying the rules of the national park and a hospital bill was most likely not included in the planning of the holiday. 

 

“Thanks for the help, Dior, even if you had to distract them in a way we know that you do not like to do.”

 

“It is safer than having them be injured by angry animal mothers.” 

 

As a wildlife rehabilitator, Dior knew how a lack of common sense from humans could ruin the lives of wild animals. Shooting the fawn was a act of mercy, rather than having it be abandoned by the mother and die from starvation or being hunted to death by a predator. 

 

It was time to return home, Nimloth was soon done for the day at the wildlife aid center where she worked as a vet and their twin sons was still at the Forest Kindergarten for two hours more. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

At the Forest Kindergarten, Celegorm was being a visitor for the day. He was not the only one, Finduilas and Gwindor had just arrived to pick up their youngest daughter,  

 

“Alright, can you tell me which animals it is in those pictures without looking at the names?” Celegorm asked his six-year-old grandsons Eluréd and Elurín, where he sat in a sofa with them both in his lap and holding up a book. 

 

“Snowy owl, because it is white!”

 

“And this is a Arctic fox.” 

 

They were bright young boys for their age, taking after their parents because both Dior and Nimloth had a profession that was related to wildlife. 

 

“It was a good plan for Dior to not marrying a few years after coming of age, he needed a lot of therapy to heal from his past and a lot of other things to overcome before he felt ready to take that step…” 

 

Personally, Celegorm thought that Dior had chosen a good spouse in Nimloth, the marriage proposal coming after dating six years as adults with stable jobs and everything else that belonged to adulthood. Their marriage had been in the spring 2012, because they were not the type of couple to marry in college and have children in quick order afterwards. Given the whole story of the relationship between Luthien and Beren, and his upbringing before he had became a orphan, no one had found to strange that Dior wanted to wait with marriage. Besides, it was a huge bonus to having worked for a few years so he had a stable income and also the opportunity to buy his own house to live in with his future family. 

 

“Grandpa? Can we visit gran-gran Emeldir together with your parents today?” 

 

“Why not? You said that you would try and give great-grandpa Fëanor something to work with to keep his mind in check. I guess it is in that big bag at your backpacks?” 

 

Dior did belong to the Nos Feanor family according to the adoption almost twenty years ago, but he still had Emeldir to be part of his life and her young great-grandsons was familiar with her as well. As far as Eluréd and Elurín knew, having three living great-grandparents was nothing strange. They were still a little too young to understand the truth of the family situation, but in a few years, they would be old enough to be told. 

 

“Alright, everyone. Time to go home. Thank you for being here today,” one of the child attendants called, helping a few toddlers to clean up the toys from the floor and into the right boxes. 

  
  


At their current age, Nerdanel, Fëanor and Emeldir had finally moved away from their own homes and into the elderly-adjusted apartments near the retirement home. They were living next-doors, so any visit from the younger generations could be spit up. 

 

“Great-grandpa! Here is for you!” 

 

The twins had borrowed a large wooden bowl from Celegorm, where they had poured in the pieces of two different 1000 piece puzzles and mixed the pieces together so Nerdanel and Fëanor would have less easy to find the right ones. This wooden bowl was set on the dinner table, together with the two puzzle boxes. 

 

“Oh? So you want me to find all the right pieces for one puzzle and finish it before starting on the other one, right?” 

 

On the dinner table, was a postcard from Elros where he was on honeymoon in Middle-earth with his newly wedded wife. Elrond had chosen the path of becoming a doctor, and was currently in a relationship with Finduilas younger cousin Celebrían, with a lot of promises on that they would be the next wedding in the family.  

 

A jeep arrived on the outside, and Dior came out with some nice flowers for Emeldir which he and Nimloth had chosen in the local flower shop ten minutes earlier. As Dior had been called to the National Park to help out before the tourists did something wíth the local wildlife before anything fatal could happen, Nimloth had waited for him to return with the car as they needed it to get their sons home. 

 

“Good day, grandmother. We found some flowers which should brighten up your living room. The boys picked them out yesterday for their gran-gran,” Dior greeted her while Nimloth searched for a nice vase to put them into. Emeldir was healthy for her age, but her eyesight had gotten worse over the past years and she now needed to use glasses to see clearly. 

 

“My, that was kind of them. Such sweet boys, even with a little mischief sometimes that can be expected because of their age.” 

 

Given her high age, it would only be natural for Emeldir to join her husband and son in the afterlife soon, but she intended to enjoy her final days of life as best as she could. Getting visits by the younger generations was a nice bonus. 

  
  


After the visit, Dior and Nimloth had to smile at the sight of Celegorm carrying the twin boys out from the apartment where his own parents lived, holding one under each arm. 

 

“Alright, stay still so I do not drop one of you,” Celegorm said before he spotted Dior. 

 

“Hi, dad. I hope that they are not giving you too much trouble?” 

 

Ever since the adoption, it happened several times that people did actually mistake Dior and Celegorm for being biological relatives. Mosty it was people who did not live in Formenos, and given that Celegorm would have been a young adult when Dior was born, it was only natural. It was said that even distant relatives could look surprising alike at times, and with Celegorm's maternal grandfather Mahtan and Emeldir both being descendants in different lineages from Tyelkormo, perhaps it simply was pure luck or another case of when genes played a random prank on the human DNA. And thankfully it was so common with single parents nowadays that people could have their own guess to why Dior did not have a official mother, as long as no one thought of anything that could come dangerously close to the truth that he was Luthien's biological child. 

 

“ _ At least no one in the younger generation have tried that guess. Her fame as a idol singer and fashion model was ruined by the scandals that ended Doriath Beauty twenty years ago, and I am not looked so similar to her anymore now as a adult living a outdoor life where scars are a accepted part of the job… _ ” Dior thought as he touched the newest scar near his forehead, he had gained several scars of different kinds over the years on his face, arms and upper body during various mission to rescue wildlife and it made a noticeable difference to how he had looked as a teenager. 

 

“No, the boys have been sweet all day, so no worry.” 

 

Thanking Celegorm, Dior requested his twin sons to come along with him and Nimloth after saying goodbye to their old relatives. The small family of four would make a quick stop, for a little errand, at Celebrimbor's and Narvi's house before they returned home. Celegorm would stay a little longer with his parents over a cup of coffee and some snacks. 

  
  


After the quick visit to his adopted cousin and his wife, Dior watched a hawk fly across the sky above him. His life would never be truly perfect, even with being a married father, a job that he enjoyed and a adopted family that ensured that he would never be without close relatives again, but Dior knew one thing; from the very moment Luthien removed herself from his life by committing suicide, she had in fact given him the ability to control what he wanted to do with his own life. 

 

And as far as Dior cared, his current life was the perfect revenge towards what Luthien once had envisioned for her son. He lived in the north just like his ancestors and his job did enough to pay the bills each month without worrying about the money, he had married a wife who was not from a wealthy background and their life was basically was many others in Formenos had as lifestyle. 

 

A perfectly ordinary life, which he would never trade for the upper classes society Luthien had belonged to, not after how he had spent his first 16 years of life living in the shadows of that world, only gaining freedom by coming to Formenos. In the end, money and titles was not the path to happiness, and only your own choices in what do with your life mattered.  

 

“Dad! Come on!” 

 

“We are already in the car with mom!” 

 

Dior smiled at hearing his sons call, and went over to the jeep where Nimloth was seated behind the wheel already so they could drive home. 

 

“Do you want to hear a story, boys? About a hunter, who once saved a young person…” 

 

He told it like a fairy tale, indirectly hinting to the truth of how he had arrived to Formenos twenty years ago. 

 

_ Once upon a time, a orphaned teenage boy found himself without any close relatives, when his mother chose to vanish out of his life. The police, worrying about that he was too young to live alone because he was not of age yet for two years, offered to help him find a foster family. One day, a hunter arrived with the offer of taking the teenage boy to his home in the north, to be part of his family with parents, several brothers and the children of those brothers. The boy, who saw no other path he could take, chose to come along and leave his old life in the south behind forever. They did not know it, but from that first meeting on, the hunter and the teenager had taken the first steps on the path to one day become father and son.  _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In canon it is mentioned that Dior married Nimloth when he was 27 years old, so them having a spring wedding half a year after his 27th birthday seemed to fit. Eluréd and Elurín are also mentioned to be born when Dior is 30 in canon, so here they would be born in somewhere in mid-December 2014, becoming 7 years old in 2021 
> 
> Why Elwing is not part of Dior's and Nimloth's family as in canon? Simple, I do not think Dior would be comfortable with the idea of having a daughter that might trigger up unpleasant memories of Luthien in some form by sharing the appearance, behavior or personality of her paternal grandmother, and they were already content with their twin sons after just one pregnancy. 
> 
> My headcanon for how Mahtan and Emeldir descends from Tyelkormo is something like this: both are a maternal line, but Emeldir is from his younger daughter in the short-lived marriage while Mahtan's mother is a descendant from a natural-born younger daughter from a local Silvan woman as his lover


End file.
